[Retinal detachment in young patients].

We report 48 cases of retinal detachment in 39 patients under the age of 20. These cases represent 12.6% of all retinal detachment cases. They are characterized by their numerous etiologies mainly traumatic (36%) and congenital detachment (36%). They are also characterized by delayed diagnosis (4 months), frequency of macula involvement (92%) and the large area of detachment (total retinal detachment in 48%). Thirty-six out of the 48 eyes were operated on. Surgical treatment consisted in episcleral surgery in 65% of the cases, associated with vitreoretinal surgery in 35% of the cases. Complete anatomic success was achieved in 78.4% of the eyes, localized retinal detachment without macula involvement remained in 5.4% of the cases. Vision between 1/20 and 2/10 was obtained in 41% of the eyes, and superior or equal to 2/10 in 24% of the eyes. These results depended mainly on the aetiology. In conclusion, we obtained good recuperation in operated cases of juvenile retinal detachment even in delayed diagnosis cases.