Most symptomatic retinal retinal detachments (that is detachments that the sufferer is aware of) will progress to involve the whole of the retina and will result in total blindness in the affected eye.

Symptomatic retinal detachments are usually treated quickly. There are however some people who are found to retinal detachments that they were not aware of. Such ‘asymptomatic’ detachments often behave in a less aggressive fashion and are discussed separately.