Postoperative recovery of visual function after macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

Purpose: To determine which factors affect the recovery of visual function in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).Methods: In a prospective study of forty-five patients with a primary macula-off RRD of 24 hours to 6 weeks duration, the height of the macular detachment was determined by ultrasonography. At 12 months postoperatively, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast acuity, and color confusion indexes (CCI) were obtained.Results: Macular detachment was present for 2-32 (median 7) days before repair. A shorter duration of macular detachment was correlated with a better CCI sature (p = 0.0026) and lower LogMAR BCVA (better Snellen visual acuity)(p = 0.012). Also, a smaller height of macular detachment was correlated with a lower LogMAR BCVA (p = 0.0034). A younger age and lower pre-operative LogMAR BCVA at presentation were both correlated with better postoperative contrast acuity in the total group (age: p = 1.7 x 10(-4) and pre-operative LogMAR BCVA: p = 0.0034).Conclusion: Functional recovery after macula-off RRD is affected by the duration and the height of the macular detachment. Recovery of contrast acuity is also affected by age and BCVA at presentation.