To analyze retinal tears and to compare the clinical outcomes between retinal tear and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) as the cause of dense non-diabetic vitreous hemorrhage in patients who underwent vitreoretinal surgery.

In a retrospective case series, the medical records of patients who presented dense non-diabetic vitreous hemorrhage and who underwent vitreoretinal surgery between January 2005 and June 2009 were reviewed. Among the 134 patients, 27 patients had dense vitreous hemorrhage caused by retinal tears. The first group had retinal tears only and the second group had accompanying RRD. A comparison of clinical features and postoperative prognoses between the two groups was performed.

Among the 27 eyes with non-traumatic retinal tear and RRD, 18 were categorized into the retinal tear group and 9 to the RRD group. The demographic findings between the two studied groups exhibited no significant differences except for time between onset of symptoms and diagnosis. However, the time to diagnosis was significantly delayed in the group with RRD (22.67 ± 37.47 days) compared to the retinal tear group (5.00 ± 3.41 days) ( p = 0.035). The amount of visual improvement was also greater in the retinal tear group than the RRD group ( p = 0.002).

Retinal tears are a major cause of non-diabetic vitreous hemorrhage. Vitreous hemorrhage caused by retinal detachment may result in delayed diagnosis and poor visual recovery. Therefore, early examinations in suspicion of RRD and appropriate treatments are needed in non-diabetic vitreous hemorrhage.