Weekend Effect in Fellow-performed Surgery for Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment

Purpose: To investigate whether the clinical outcomes of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgeries performed by vitreoretinal fellows differ between weekend/holiday and workday surgeries.Methods: This retrospective cohort study reviewed patients who underwent primary RRD surgery performed by vitreoretinal fellows between March 2010 and December 2024 at a single tertiary referral center.Patients with at least 6 months of postoperative follow-up were included.Anatomical outcomes and operative times were compared according to whether the surgery was performed on a weekend/holiday or a workday.Results: In total, 1,603 eyes from 1,595 patients were included (weekend/holiday group: 442 eyes; workday group: 1,161 eyes).The mean patient age was 48.3 ± 15.7 years, and 42.4% were female.Surgical failure rates did not differ between the weekend/holiday and workday groups for either scleral buckling (50/279 [17.9%] vs. 116/667 [17.4%], p = 0.919) or vitrectomy (17/162 [10.5%] vs. 55/488 [11.3%], p = 0.898).Operative time was also comparable between groups (scleral buckling: 110.7 ± 47.2 vs. 108.0± 41.8 minutes, p = 0.415; vitrectomy: 106. 1 ± 42.5 vs. 99.8 ± 36.9, p = 0.100).Conclusions: Among primary RRD surgeries performed by fellows, anatomic outcomes and operative time did not differ between weekend/holiday and workday surgeries, suggesting consistent quality of care regardless of the day of surgery.