detachment of the retina
- noun
- /dɪˈtæʧmənt əv ðə rɪˈtɪnə/
- Specialized
:
desprendimiento de retina
- The patient was diagnosed with a detachment of the retina and scheduled for urgent surgery.
Examples
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If left untreated, detachment of the retina can lead to permanent blindness.
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Early symptoms of detachment of the retina can include flashes of light and sudden vision loss.
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The detachment of the retina can lead to serious vision problems.
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After the accident, he was diagnosed with a detachment of the retina.
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Early symptoms of detachment of the retina can include flashes of light and sudden vision loss.
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If left untreated, detachment of the retina can lead to permanent blindness.
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The patient was diagnosed with a detachment of the retina and scheduled for urgent surgery.
Synonyms
2
6.3
The retina pulls away from the back of the eye, causing sudden vision loss
1
6.9
The retina pulls away from the back of the eye and causes sudden vision loss that needs urgent treatment
Surface Forms
Morphology
detachment + of + the + retina
The meaning is compositionally transparent: 'detachment' means separation and 'retina' names the light-sensitive membrane at the back of the eye, so 'detachment of the retina' straightforwardly means the retina becoming separated. The linking words 'of the' are purely grammatical and the noun+of+noun medical naming pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Detachment of the retina comes from a simple picture: the thin layer that senses light, the retina, peels away from the back of the eye like wallpaper lifting from a wall. So when this detachment happens the eye cannot make clear images and it can cause 'loss of vision'.