People with severe myopia (nearsightedness) run a higher risk of experiencing retinal detachment.
A retinal detachment is a separation of the retina, the nerve cell layer, from the outer layers of the eye. The detachment might be small and relatively innocuous. In much more serious cases, the entire retina could detach; immediate medical care is necessary to prevent blindness. The sudden appearance of eye floaters and flashes in one’s vision are indications that the retina has detached.
A recent study out of Berlin, Germany indicates that highly myopic people who have had cataract surgery are not necessarily more likely to suffer spontaneous retinal detachment. Researchers intend this study to help inform highly myopic considering cataract surgery that their already elevated risk of retinal detachment is not increased by the cataract removal procedure.
