[Retinal detachment caused by small tears in the equatorial region of the retina].

46 Phakic rhegmatogenous retinal detachments due solely to round atrophic holes in the equatorial region were observed in 42 patients. The clinical characteristics and the prognosis of the retinal detachments differ from those of retinal detachments associated with horse-show retinal tears. The 46 phakic retinal detachments due solely to round atrophic holes in the equatorial region account for 5.8% of all rhegmatogenous retinal detachments operated during the same period of time, 81% of the patients were under 40 years of age, 93.5% of the eyes were myopic. The round atrophic holes were located within foci of equatorial lattice degeneration in 97.8% of the eyes. The number of holes per eye varied from 1 to 16 with a mean number of 4.54. The location of the holes showed a significant prevalence for the lower temporal quadrant (83.3% of the eyes) and then the upper temporal quadrant (47.8% of the eyes). The retinal detachments had a slow progression and demarcation lines were present in 56.5% of the eyes. In spite of the long standing duration none of the detachments were associated with clinical evidence of proliferative vitreo retinopathy. Surgical prognosis was excellent. Retinal reattachment was achieved in all cases. Post operative visual acuity of 20/40 or better was achieved in 60% of the eyes. It is assumed that the absence of proliferative vitreo retinopathy in those retinal detachments is related to the absence of significant vitreous degeneration and posterior vitreous detachment.