To determine the presenting characteristics of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in a consecutive series of Pakistani patients. Case series. Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust (LRBT), Lahore, from June 2010 to October 2011. A total of 107 eyes underwent RRD surgery. Detailed diagrams were drawn pre-operatively for all. Other recorded details included, bio-data, age, gender, visual acuity, autorefractometery, predisposing risk factors, lens state and duration of symptoms. The data was

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... yzed with respect to age and gender distribution, frequency of various risk factors for RRD, duration of RRD and its various presenting characteristics. Mean age of the patients were 33.1 ± 1.5 years, 85% were males. Bilateral RRD was discovered in 2.8% patients. No identifiable risk factor for RRD was present in 28%, while in rest of the 72% eyes, the commonest risk factors were intraocular surgery, trauma and peripheral myopic degeneration in decreasing order of frequency. There were 70.1% phakic, 23.4% pseudophakic and 6.5% aphakic eyes. Majority (93.5%) presented with macula off detachment. There was an overall average time lapse of 97.24 ± 16.95 days between presenting and first occurrence of symptoms. In 31.8% of eyes no break could be found pre-operatively, while 38.3% had 1 and 29.9% eyes had ³ 2 breaks. Majority of the primary breaks were horse-shoe tears (42.1%). Total RRD was found in 35.5% eyes. Infero-temporal and supero-temporal were the most frequently involved quadrants (93.5% and 86.9% respectively). Intraocular surgery, trauma and lattice degeneration in myopia are established common risk factors for RRD. These patients deserve meticulous fundus examination with indentation indirect ophthalmoscopy by trained professionals.