ABSTRACT
Aim:To determine and describe the causes and risk factors predisposing Ethiopian patients to rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Methods: A retrospective study of all patients with RRD seen at the retina clinic of Menilik II Hospital; Addis Ababa; from April 1999 to October 2003 was done. Charts of patients with the diagnosis of RRD were collected and data were filled on structured questionnaires and analyzed using EPI INFO 6 software. Results: Data were available for 276 patients (305 eyes) in whom the diagnosis of RRD was made. Age of patients ranged from 7-85 years; mean age was 41 and median was 40 years. Hundred-eighty-eight [68] of the patients were males and 88 [32] were females with male-to-female ratio of 2.1:1. Myopia was the predisposing factor for RRD in 78 [28.3] patients of which 63 had myopia of 5D. In 57 [20.7] patients with RRD; there was a history of ocular trauma. Thirty-nine [14.2] patients had had cataract surgery with lens implantation and 21 [7.6] patients were surgically aphakic. Macula-off RRD was seen in 225 [73.8] eyes. Bilateral RRD was seen in 29 [10.5] patients. Conclusion: The study showed that myopia; ocular trauma; pseudophakia and aphakia in decreasing frequency were the main risk factors associated with RRD among Ethiopians attending a tertiary eye care centre