SILICONE OIL TAMPONADE FOR RETINAL-DETACHMENT AND DELAYED TREATMENT OF RETINAL TEARS

Four patients underwent a vitrectomy procedure for retinal detachment associated with anterior and posterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy (D-1 type). In each patient, an internal tamponade was achieved with 1000-centistoke silicone oil. Preretinal and/or subretinal hemorrhage that was difficult to remove during surgery, as well as remnants of su bretinal fluid, prevented complete intraoperative treatment of the ret inal tears or the retinotomy with endolaser photocoagulation. The sili cone oil tamponade kept the retina flat until laser treatment was appl ied to the retinal tears several weeks later, when the retinal blood a nd subretinal fluid had reabsorbed. When circumstances make achieving intraoperative laser marks difficult, silicone oil tamponade appears t o be superior to a long-lasting gas tamponade. It provides a more perm anent tamponade than gas and excellent visualization of the fundus sev eral weeks after surgery, at which time laser marks can be completed.