Review Article - Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology (2022) Volume 6, Issue 3

Unexplained visual loss in silicone oil tamponade for macula-on retinal detachments.

Objectives: To assess the effect of Silicone Oil (SO) tamponade on Best-Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) when used in macula-on Retinal Detachments (RD).

Methods: Retrospective, non-randomised interventional case series of consecutive patients with macula-on RD where SO was successfully used to reattach the retina. The following variables were analysed: hospital site, gender, age, axial length, pre-operative BCVA, presence of vitreous haemorrhage, giant retinal tear, or proliferative vitreoretinopathy, lens status during SO tamponade, duration of SO tamponade, use of perfluorcarbon liquid, an encircling band and the illumination source during Removal of SO (ROSO). The main outcome measure was BCVA at 3 months after ROSO.

Results: Twenty-nine patients were included. The mean change in BCVA was -0.18 (0.31) logMAR from pre-operative 0.17 (0.15) to final BCVA of 0.35 (0.29) logMAR after ROSO. Unexplained loss of vision > 2 log MAR lines occurred in 9/29 (31%) patients. Final BCVA was 0.3 logMAR or worse in 15/29 (52%) patients, and only 7/29 (24%) achieved 0.1 logMAR or better at 3 months after ROSO. 1/29 patients remained phakic without significant lens opacification and 28/29 patients were pseudophakic at 3 months follow-up. None of the analysed variables were associated with visual acuity outcome.

Conclusion: The use of SO in the surgical repair of macula on RD was associated with a loss of >2 lines in 31% of patients.

Author(s): Carmen Baumann, Katharina Kirchmair, Kristin Röper, Mathias Maier, Niall Patton Timothy Z. Cheong, Assad Jalil

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