Mysteries regarding the surgically reattached retina.

Purpose: To present contemporary information regarding the continued inability to reliably predict visual acuity following successful retinal reattachment surgery.

Methods: Literature review.

Results: Anatomical results of surgery for retinal detachment continue to be far superior to visual results. Clinical factors that have been considered important in predicting postoperative visual acuity include preoperative vision, duration of detachment, height of detachment, and preoperative potential acuity meter results. Recently, optical coherence tomography (OCT) studies have been employed for the purpose of predicting postoperative visual acuity, but to date none of these devices can precisely forecast postoperative vision in an individual eye.

Conclusions: Preoperative visual acuities appear to be the most important clinical variants correlating with postoperative visual results. Although advanced OCT techniques have identified preoperative and postoperative anatomical alterations that correlate with preoperative and postoperative visions in groups of eyes, no single specific finding indicates unequivocal visual success, and most reports continue to include examples of exceptions to statistical trends.