Glasses and Retinal Detachment

When I see patients who are very near sighted, I like to remind them that they have a higher chance of retinal detachment than people who are less near sighted. Sometimes, I get blank stares in return, so I thought that this would be a good forum to discuss the concept in a little more depth. The retina is a structure in the eye where light is actually sensed, and it is in the back part of the eye. You might say that it is the inner lining of the back half of the eyeball. If the retina starts coming off of the wall of the eye, it is considered detached. At this point, it does not function well. It is also separated from a part of its blood supply, so a retinal detachment is not a good situation for an eye. People who are near sighted are more prone to getting retinal tears, and retinal tears predispose to retinal detachments. Near sighted individuals will know they are near sighted because they have negative number prescriptions, e.g. -2.00, -3.00, etc. Additionally, as the name suggests, near sighted people can see better up close without glasses than they can far away. There’s not much to do if you are near sighted to prevent retinal detachment, but recognition is important, so knowing that you are at increased risk can be helpful.