Retinal detachment has a host of causes ranging from trauma, complicatons of myopic retinopathy, Eale s disease and diabetes to name a few. There are many treatment options such as external tamponade like buckles, photocoagulation and interanl tamponades with inert material like gases and silicone oil. Silicone oil into the vitreous cavity is used in cases where a simple buckle may not be adequate. However, success rate of silicone oil is not as high as one would expect. Redetachment is very common in many studies carried out and ranges from 21% to almost 77%. This may happen from the first week to the first month after surgery. This happens even if the retina appears attached for 8 constant weeks. In your son s case, the oil was left in his eye for three months. Treatment following redetachment is only a further attempt with repeat silicone oil as you have been advised and your son has undergone. During surgery, the surgeon performs a revision of vitrectomy with a membrane removal, if present ,and may also have to attach a scleral buckle. There is nothing you or your son can do to prevent a repeat of the earlier picture. However, reattachment is possible if it has failed once. Most common failures of reattachment are cases with proliferative vitreoretinpathy.