Patients may experience better visual acuity if the duration of macular detachment is shortened to 3 days or less, according to a study conducted by the Department of Ophthalmology at Horngren Family Vitreoretinal Center, Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif.

“A number of factors have been identified as predictive of poor visual outcomes, including presenting visual acuity, height of the detachment and duration of macular detachment [DMD],” Margaret A. Greven, MD, of Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues wrote. “For the retinal surgeon, timing of the surgical repair is the only factor that has reliably been shown to affect visual outcomes.”