Bilateral acute postoperative retinal detachment after cataract extraction: case report and review of the literature.

A 57-year-old white man had extracapsular cataract extraction complicated by vitreous loss. On postoperative day 1, he was noted to have a total retinal detachment (RD) with vitreous hemorrhage. No predisposing anatomic risk factors were present except for the vitreous loss. During the RD repair, 2 small superior tears were discovered. Eleven months later, the patient had uneventful phacoemulsification in the fellow eye. On postoperative day 1, he again had a total RD with a superior retinal tear. Meticulous retinal evaluation had been performed preoperatively, and no holes or tears were discovered. The RD was repaired, and the best corrected visual acuity at the last examination was 20/40 in both eyes.