Vision can be divided into two parts. The first part is the peripheral or all the way around vision. This allows you to see objects out of the corner of your eye and is the vision that you tend to use when walking down the street or going downstairs. After successful retinal detachment surgery this usually returns to normal.

The second and to many people most important aspect of vision is the central vision. This is the part with which you focus on objects. It is the part of the vision with which you read or recognise faces. The recovery of this central vision is somewhat less predictable. Firstly it depends on whether the central part of the retina is involved in the retinal detachment. This central part of the retina is called the macula and we talk about a ‘macula on’ or ‘macula off’ retinal detachment.

If the macula is on then in most cases the central vision will return to normal. If the macula is off, the visual outcome depends partly on luck and partly on the duration that it has been affected. In many cases the central vision will return almost to normal if the macula has only been involved for a day or two. If it has been involved for more than about 5 days then it is unlikely that it will return to normal but the overall vision in the eye is much, much better following a successful operation than if the retina is left untreated.

Regardless of the extent of recovery, some people will be aware of distorted vision, that is straight lines appearing to have a kink in them, after retinal detachment surgery. This is sometimes amenable to further treatment but very often will go away completely within a year.

It is important to realise that your vision may slowly improve for up to one year after surgery. Most of the improvement occurs in the first few months but it can continue for a long time after this.