Should we do laser for a small round hole tears if the fellow eye has RD history

[taurus1203]

Dr Oyakawa,
You mentioned that you will definitely not do the laser for the round-hole tears. Do you refer to normal people or including people like me have RD in the fellow eye? I saw statistics saying the RD rate of people in North America is 0.3% (or 1/300) during the life time. What is the theoretical RD rate of my right eye given the fact that I have RD in the left eye? Is it more close to 5% or 15%?
I am thinking if the RD rate is around 5% and the laser can lower the rate a bit to let say 3 or 4 %, I may rather wait until there is a symptom.
I am going to see the Retinal specialist tomorrow and like to prepare a bit better.
Thanks a lot

[taurus1203]

Dr Oyakawa,
Thanks a lot for your info. I personally don't want to do the laser the risk as you said there 5% complication. Another reason is as you said, only a very small percentage of detachment is caused by round hole tear.

But I the retinal specialist I saw 3 weeks recommend the laser only because I have the RD in the left eye.
That 's why I would like to look at the stat. The statistic I looked at also express in terms of per year. It said regular person have around 0.005% chance of detachment PER YEAR. What is the chance of RD for people like us (had RD before). 10 times higher ? or 100 times higher?
I also want to understand the risk so as to evaluate if I need to buy some serious-illness insurance.


Thanks again

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

A round hole leading to detachment is probably less than 0.5%  There is a slight increase in risk due to the RD in the other eye, but probably not from the round hole.  5% complications with laser treatment --epiretinal membrane formation and detachment.  Pay attentions to symptoms in that eye and see a retinal specialist immediate if you have changes in floaters or flashes or change in peripheral vision.

I do not think the stats you mentioned are correct.  There are about 10,000 to 15,000 retinal detachment per year unrelated to other eye disease such as diabetes, cataract surgery or trauma.  We do about 3 million cataract surgeries per year.


I would not have laser (I have a very similar situation).