SOPHISTICATED VITREORETINAL SURGERY IN PATIENTS WITH A HEALTHY FELLOWEYE - AN 11-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Forty-four patients who had undergone successful vitreoretinal surgery were included in a retrospective study intended to evaluate the real benefit of surgery in each case. All patients presented with a retinal detachment complicated by proliferative vitreoretinopathy in one eye, the fellow eye being healthy. The number of operations undergone by e ach patient and the total operating time per patient were carefully re corded. Objective parameters such as visual acuity, visual field and s tereoscopic function were monitored. Visual comfort and subjective com plaints were graded by means of a questionnaire given to the patients. Any severe event occurring in the fellow eye during the follow-up per iod was also registered. Sophisticated vitreoretinal surgery in patien ts with a good fellow eye is useful to the patient if binocular functi on can be restored at least partially. Correction of unilateral aphaki a by a contact lens should not be considered an acceptable solution.