1. Know Your Risk Factors
This condition typically presents in patients who are middle aged or older and who have severe myopia. Risk factors include floaters (bits of the retina that may have broken away into the vitreous humor), a family history of the condition, an observed thinning of the retina in either eye and past cataract surgery. If you've been injured in the eye or you've suffered a traumatic blow to the head or visual center, your likelihood for developing the condition is greater.
2. Know Your Symptoms
Wavy vision, blurred vision in the central portion of your field of view and a sense of shade being pulled down over your POV may all indicate the condition. If you notice an abundance of floaters (tiny spots that flash over your pupils), this can also indicate retinal detachment. Patients also report flashes of light that result from the retina being tugged by a shrinking vitreous.
3. Go to an Ophthalmologist to Get a Diagnosis
Your ophthalmologist will likely give you an array of examinations to determine whether or not one of the three types of retinal detachment (fractional, exudative or rhegmatogenous) may be causing your symptoms. One simple test is the visual acuity test, which involves little more than sitting across the room from a doctor and reading letters off a chart.
To get a closer look at your condition, your ophthalmologist may employ a slit lamp microscope to probe for tears in the retina and other signs of detachment that one might not notice with the naked eye. Finally, your diagnostician may use a hand-held ophthalmoscope to explore the retina for tears, abnormalities or other indicators of detachment.
Often, the optometrist will use several different lenses to examine different scales of detail in the eye. He may inquire about pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, sickle cell anemia or congenital abnormalities to winnow the diagnosis.
