Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To present a case report of a patient who had loss of vision from persisting subretinal fluid after scleral buckling for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. The patient had a return of excellent vision after removal of the scleral buckle. Methods: A 31–year–old woman presented with a macula off retinal detachment, vision of 20/80. She had at least twenty small retinal tears. She was treated with an encircling scleral buckle and external drainage of subretinal fluid. She had initial reattachment of the retina with vision of 20/400 and pinhole to 20/60. She then had a recurrence of subretinal fluid posteriorly, without formation of proliferative vitreoretinopathy or new retinal tears. Optical Coherence Tomography clearly demonstrated the subretinal fluid. Results: Eight months after initial surgery, the scleral buckle was removed. The subretinal fluid resolved and vision returned to 20/20. Conclusions: Surgical repair of retinal detachment often involves placement of a scleral buckle. Generally, this buckle is left in place indefinitely, to continue to support the retinal tears. We believe this patient may have had choroidal congestion or impairment of venous outflow causing accumulation of subretinal fluid posterior to the buckle. The buckle was not felt to be particularly high in indentation or extremely anterior in location. The removal of the Scleral Buckle solved the post–operative problem of recurrent subretinal fluid and vision loss in this patient.
Keywords: retinal detachment