retinal tears

[Paul12356]

I had two retinal tears in my left eye that were treated with a laser. My question is would it be stronger if the repair was done with cryo therapy treatment as I'm a keen runner and have been told to take things easy for six weeks.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

For tears that are reachable by cryo    laser and cryo are quivalent. Many tears are too far towards the back of the eye to reach with cryo.

You will have to ask you surgeon about your activities.

The issue of running causing RD has been studied and it is not a cause. Also in a large survey of retina surgeons almost all of them released their patients to running/jogging six weeks after RD surgery (which is bigger than what you had).  

Therefore based on the scientific studies your running did not cause this nor will it incrase the risks of more tears in the future (I'm a runner 6 marathons, 20+ half marathons and would say avoid the sedentary lifestyle It's a killer

JCH MD

[Paul12356]

Thank you for your help.
What then are the conditions that decided the choice of treatments.
My other question is ,when I start running again after six weeks is this likely  to cause more tears in the future or would I now be better to adopted a more sedentary life stile.    

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

No the scar strength is basically the same

JCHMD