Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine the possibility of bacterial infiltration of wounds created by a 30 gauge intravitreal injection needle.
Methods: :
Sclera was excised from whole fresh pig eyes. A 30 gauge needle was used to perforate the sclera, which was then placed into an osmotically neutral diffusion chamber with balanced salt solution (BSS) on one side and 10% India ink in BSS on the other. After 3 days, the sclera was removed from the diffusion chambers, cleaned, and fixed in 10% formalin. Histology was performed using hematoxylin and eosin stain.
Results: :
Histopathologic evaluation revealed that the India ink particles were visible throughout all wounds.
Conclusions: :
India ink particles can infiltrate full thickness scleral wounds created by a 30 gauge needle in the absence of intraocular pressure. Since India ink particles and bacteria are of a similar size, our results indicate that bacteria have the potential to infiltrate the wound after an intravitreal injection, suggesting the need for post-injection antibiotics.
Keywords: endophthalmitis • injection