Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) is the most common ophthalmic emergency and is a major causes of visual loss in the United Kingdom (UK) [1]. With prompt surgery RRD can be successfully repaired with good visual outcomes in ~80–90% of all cases [2]. This is in contrast to late presentation retinal detachment, which has commonly been described in low-income countries and attributed to a lack of access to healthcare, rurality and cost [3]. Recently, we have identified that late presentation retinal detachment (LPRD) continues to occur in the UK [4].

To investigate the reasons for this late presentation we conducted a telephone survey to all patients with diagnosis of LPRD, defined as RRD with loss of central vision for 4 weeks or more, presenting between August 2018 and July 2021 at Moorfields Eye Hospital. Patients were asked three questions: 1) why was there a delay between onset of symptoms and clinic attendance? 2) Had you heard about retinal detachment before you suffered it? 3) Do you think that knowing about retinal detachment and its presenting symptoms could help people to attend earlier? In the subgroup of patients attending between March 2020 and April 2021, which was the critical period of COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, we asked them one additional question: 4) did COVID-19 influence in some way the delay of the attendance? All telephone surveys were conducted by the same investigator (MT).

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