To investigate the clinical features and surgical outcomes of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) requiring surgery according to age.

Medical records of patients who underwent surgery for primary RRD between January 2008 and March 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were classified into two groups according to age at diagnosis: the under-40 group and the over-40 group. The two groups were compared in terms of demographic features, ocular manifestation, operating methods, primary anatomical success rate, and visual outcome.

One hundred and forty-four eyes from 144 patients were included. Mean subject age was 48.6 ± 16.9 years old. The under-40 group involved 42 eyes from 42 patients, and the over-40 group included 102 eyes from 102 patients. Symptom duration was shorter in the under-40 group compared to the over-40 group (7.6 ± 10.7 days vs. 14.5 ± 24.4 days; p = 0.029). Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) occurred more frequently in the under-40 group (40.0% vs. 17.4%, p = 0.007) than in the over-40 group. The anatomical success rate of primary surgery was significantly different between the two groups; 78.6% in the under-40 group and 91.2% in the over-40 group ( p = 0.038). Preoperative PVR increased the rate of anatomical failure (40.0% vs. 6.2%, p < 0.001). The visual outcomes were not significantly different between the two groups.

RRD is combined with PVR more frequently in young patients than in old patients, which increases the failure rate of primary re-attachment surgery.