An experimental study of retinal detachments

Histologic material from clinical retinal detachments or experimental retinal detachments without complicating factors has been limited. To achieve a detachment with minimal trauma to the retina and vitreous, silicone materials were injected between the pigment epithelium and the rod-and-cone layer of the retina of the dog. Sequential histologic examination of two-week to sixmonth-old detachments first showed degenerative changes in the receptor-cell layer outer segments. This progressed to their total loss with partial loss of the inner segments. Preservation of the receptor-cell nucleus was uniform. Therefore, the receptor cell was not dead but its functional processes had disappeared.