retinal break

retinal break 

A full thickness opening in the neurosensory retina. It may be a hole, usually due to atrophy of the retina and often overlaid by an operculum; or a tear, horseshoe-shaped (U-shaped), round or slit-like, usually caused by posterior vitreous detachment in which the vitreous adheres to the retina and pulls it from the point of adherence during or just after an abrupt eye movement; or a giant retinal tear which involves 90º or more of the circumference of the globe and is commonly associated with Marfan's syndrome or Stickler's syndrome; or retinal dialysis which is usually the result of trauma. The patient may complain of photopsia, seeing floaters or flashes and some visual field defects and they may present with a vitreous haemorrhage. Management of retinal breaks includes localized laser photocoagulation (laser retinopexy) or cryopexy, a method of cryotherapy (freezing of the tissues causing local protein denaturation which leads to adhesion of the retina to the pigment epithelium), as the defect may lead to rhegmatogenous or tractional retinal detachment. See macular hole; retinal dialysis; retinoschisis; Shafer's sign.