Postoperative vision-related quality of life in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment patients and its relation to visual function.

Objective: To determine the vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) after surgery for macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in relation to visual acuity, contrast acuity, and color vision.

Methods: In a prospective observational study, we included 55 patients with a macula-off RRD. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), color vision (saturated and desaturated color confusion indices (CCI)) and contrast acuity were measured at 12 months postoperatively in both the RRD eye and the fellow control eye, and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) was filled out.

Results: Operated and fellow control eyes differed significantly in mean LogMAR BCVA (P<0.0001), median Log contrast acuity (P<0.0001), saturated CCI (P = 0.009), and desaturated CCI (P = 0.016). Significant correlations were observed between the NEI VFQ-25 overall composite score and postoperative LogMAR BCVA (R = -0.551, P<0.0001), contrast acuity (R = 0.472, P<0.0001), saturated CCI (R = -0.315, P = 0.023), and desaturated CCI (R = -0.283, P = 0.044).

Conclusions: A lower VR-QOL was highly correlated to a worse postoperative BCVA and contrast acuity and to a lesser extent to color vision disturbances.