ADELAIDE veteran Rory Sloane is recovering at home after having surgery on a detached retina, with his return to training yet to be determined.
Sloane experienced symptoms after training this week and had surgery on Tuesday night.
The midfielder had the same procedure in 2021 and spent a month on the sidelines.
A similar timeline would see him miss one or both of the club's pre-season hit-outs, against Port Adelaide on January 23 and West Coast on February 2.
The Crows' first game of the premiership season is against Gold Coast on March 16.
In 2021, Sloane spoke about the seriousness of the initial injury.
"A detached retina is pretty serious," he said at the time.
"That is something I learnt pretty quickly; without getting the proper procedure and doing the recovery right, there could have been some real long-term effects.
"That was the driving force for me - forget footy, your vision is for life."
In August last year, Sloane suffered another scare when he was substituted out of a game with an eye complaint - although he was subsequently cleared of damaging the retina again.
The former Crows skipper also copped a fractured eye socket in 2017.
"Pleasingly the surgery has been a success and Rory is now in recovery," Adelaide high performance manager Darren Burgess said on Wednesday.
"As is typical with Sloaney, he is very positive and given he has been through this before he understands what the process will look like from here.
"He will spend the next five days recovering at home and given the nature of the injury we will be guided by the specialists and his recovery before deciding on a return date for training."
Sloane played 22 games last season after missing the bulk of the 2022 campaign due an an ACL injury.
"He has had a lot of injuries to his eyes and been very unlucky," Adelaide ruckman Reilly O'Brien told reporters on Wednesday.
"Sloaney is a super-positive guy, he has been through a lot of setbacks.
"His love for the club and love for footy is so, so strong ... I'm confident we will see him back.".
The news comes a day after defender Wayne Milera suffered a hamstring injury, sidelining him for two weeks.
He is expected to spend the next two weeks recovering and miss the Crows' internal trial on February 16.
- with AAP
