Rhegmatogenous retinal detachments in pediatric vitreoretinopathies in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachments in pediatric vitreoretinopathies in Saudi Arabia Arif O Khan Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesDear editorI congratulate the authors on their retrospective study of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in patients (mostly children) diagnosed with Stickler syndrome in Saudi Arabia. However, I would like to point out that this work would more appropriately be considered a retrospective study of vitreoretinopathies in general rather than of Stickler syndrome specifically because a percentage of cases were likely recessive vitreoretinopathies. In my experience, children in Saudi Arabia with pediatric retinal detachment and high myopia are often labeled as having Stickler syndrome while in fact recessive vitreoretinopathies such as Knobloch syndrome or LRPAP1-related high myopia comprise a significant percentage of cases. In addition, even when a child from Saudi Arabia truly has Stickler syndrome, it is typically a special recessive form of vitreoretinopathy from a biallelic collagen gene mutation rather than the classic autosomal dominant Stickler syndrome that is recognized worldwide and is due to a heterozygous COL2A1 mutation.View original article by Alshahrani et al.