I searched, but couldn't find any threads with what I'm looking for.... hope some of the folks here may be able to help.

I'm a therapist, and got a referral yesterday to see a pre-adolescent girl for stress/anxiety. She was recently dx with detached retinas in both eyes during a routine eye exam. The surgeons are considering this kiddo a "miracle child" b/c there's no clinical or anecdotal evidence of any trauma/abuse that may have caused her condition. She's already had successful surgery on one to reattach, and is scheduled for the other eye in a few weeks. The anxiety is pretty severe, and she has "seizure-like states" (per mom) when anyone tries to discuss the surgery with her- and not about any other subject. Pediatrician has ruled out seizures. Mom is wanting to consider medicating her, but the pediatrician and I are wary due to age and that the anxiety is isolated only to the surgery.

In trying to develop my treatment plan, I realized it would be really helpful for me to understand what this surgery entails, and was hoping someone could give me a Cliff's Notes version of the procedure and risk/benefit issues. I know it's ambulatory surgery and mom said they were told 95% success rate. Any help would be greatly appreciated via posting or PM. Thanks!

Hi,
The surgery itself should be totally painless because at that age it would be done under general anaesthetic. Some people do get significant pain post-operatively though. It would be important for the mom to discuss this with the anaesthesiologist and surgeon before the next operation, because they can put some long-acting anaesthetic in at the end of the case to keep her pain free for at least 12 hours post-op.

I'm not sure what you mean by miracle child. To have bilateral detachments at such a young age, she is either extremely short sighted and/or has a genetic condition which predisposed her to the detachments such as Stickler's syndrome. (Does her face look a little unusual?)

There are some great descriptions of retinal detachment surgery on the internet. Many surgeons have patient info on their websites. Just as an example, here are some websites of a couple of the best retinal centres in the US:

http://www.vrmny.com/vitrectomy.htm
http://www.vrmny.com/retinal_detachment.htm
http://www.charles-retina.com/rd-faq.htm

Hope this helps