Lattice degeneration is a disease of the human eye wherein the peripheral retina becomes atrophic in a lattice pattern and may develop tears, breaks, or holes, which may further progress to retinal detachment. It is an important cause of retinal detachment in young myopic individuals. The cause is unknown, but pathology reveals inadequate blood flow resulting in ischemia and fibrosis.^{[citation needed]}

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (July 2020)

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Lattice degeneration
This condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner
Specialty	Ophthalmology
Symptoms	Lattice degeneration itself does not cause symptoms
Diagnostic method	The only way to diagnose the condition is with a dilated fundus examination by an eye care provider. A dilated fundus examination is done by administering dilating eye drops in your eyes to expand the pupil so that the retina can be carefully evaluated. Dilating drops will cause your vision to be blurry for several hours before returning to normal.

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Lattice degeneration occurs in approximately 6–8% of the general population and in approximately 30% of phakic retinal detachments.^[1] Similar lesions are seen in patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Marfan syndrome, and Stickler syndrome, all of which are associated with an increased risk of retinal detachment. Risk of developing lattice degeneration in one eye is also increased if lattice degeneration is already present in the other eye.^[1]

Lattice degeneration is often an incidental finding during a regular eye exam. The American Academy of Ophthalmology notes though retinal detachment is associated with lattice degeneration, lattice degeneration is not as strongly associated with or predictive of retinal detachment, with one study finding a low overall risk of developing retinal detachment at around 0.3–0.5%.^[2]

Most of the time, lattice degeneration is stable and slow-moving, and treatment for this kind of peripheral degeneration itself is not needed or recommended.

Barrage laser is at times done prophylactically around a hole or tear associated with lattice degeneration in an eye at risk of developing a retinal detachment. It is not known if surgical interventions such as laser photocoagulation or cryotherapy is effective in preventing retinal detachment in patients with lattice degeneration or asymptomatic retinal detachment.^[1] Laser photocoagulation has been shown to reduce risks of retinal detachment in symptomatic lattice degeneration.^{[citation needed]} There are documented cases wherein retina detached from areas which were otherwise healthy despite being treated previously with laser.^{[citation needed]}

There are no preventative techniques for lattice degeneration.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, lattice degeneration does not adversely affect quality of life. In rarer cases, or if it is present around the setting of other ocular problems (retinal tears, holes, detachment, etc.), urgent treatment may be advised to treat those problems.