A new study in JAMA Ophthalmology found that people who used cannabis were less likely to develop proliferative vitreoretinopathy, a serious complication that can cause retinal detachment surgeries to fail.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation conducted a large retrospective cohort study using electronic health records from 2005 to 2025. The analysis included 2,386 patients (1,193 cannabis users and 1,193 matched non-users), all of whom underwent initial retinal detachment (RD) repair.
At six months, cannabis users were about half as likely to develop PVR compared to those without documented use (2.10% vs. 4.36%). They were also less likely to require a complex repeat RD surgery (3.10% vs. 5.03%). These differences remained consistent at one-year follow-up.
“Patients who underwent initial repair for RD with concomitant cannabis use were less likely to develop PVR and require subsequent complex RD repair compared with matched patients without documented cannabis exposure,” concluded the study. However, the authors caution that additional intervention trials are needed to clarify whether the observed benefit is due to cannabis itself or confounding factors related to the patient population.
The findings suggest a possible protective effect of cannabis on retinal health, potentially linked to its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.
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