Retinal detachment. Prevalence

  The risk of retinal detachment in otherwise normal eyes is around 5 per 100,000 per year. Detachment is more frequent in the middle-aged or elderly population with rates of around 20 per 100,000 per year. The lifetime risk in normal eyes is about 1 in 300.

•   Retinal detachment is extremely common in those with severe or extreme myopia (above 5-6 diopters), as their eyes are longer and the retina is stretched thin. The lifetime risk increases to 1 in 20. Myopia is associated with 67% of retinal detachment cases. Patients suffering from a detachment related to myopia tend to be younger than non-myopic detachment patients
  
• Retinal detachment can occur more frequently after surgery for cataracts. The estimate of risk of retinal detachment after cataract surgery is 5 to 16 per 1000 cataract operations. The risk may be much higher in those who are highly myopic, with a frequency of 7% reported in one study. Young age at cataract removal further increased risk in this study
  
• Tractional retinal detachments can also occur in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy or those with proliferative retinopathy of sickle cell disease. In proliferative retinopathy, abnormal blood vessels (neovascularization) grow within the retina and extend into the vitreous. In advanced disease, the vessels can pull the retina away from the back wall of the eye causing a traction retinal detachment

  Although retinal detachment usually occurs in one eye, there is a 15% chance of developing it in the other eye, and this risk increases to 25-30% in patients who had cataracts extracted from both eyes.