At some stage the vitreous membrane may peel away from the retina.

Between it and the retina is the vitreous membrane.

The vitreous membrane is more firmly attached to the retina anteriorly at the vitreous base.

The vitreous membrane does not normally detach from the vitreous base, although it can be detached with extreme trauma.

As a posterior vitreous detachment proceeds, adherent vitreous membrane may pull on the retina.

This leads to posterior vitreous detachment, in which the vitreous membrane is released from the sensory retina.

As a complication, part of the retina might be torn off by the departing vitreous membrane, in a process known as retinal detachment.

A posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) is a condition of the eye in which the vitreous membrane separates from the retina.

When the edge is irregular, the forces of the vitreous membrane peeling off the retina can become concentrated at small posterior extensions of the vitreous base.

Similarly, in some people with retinal lesions such as lattice retinal degeneration or chorio-retinal scars, the vitreous membrane may be abnormally adherent to the retina.

The vitreous membrane (or hyaloid membrane or vitreous cortex) is a layer of collagen separating the vitreous humour from the rest of the eye.

The vitreous base is an area in the fundus of the eye in which the vitreous membrane, neural retina, and pigment epithelium all are firmly adherent, one to the other.

In response, the retina either increases its vascular permeability, leading to swelling of the eye through a macular edema, or forms new vessels that permeate into the vitreous membrane of the eye.