PHACOEMULSIFICATION AND SILICONE OIL REMOVAL THROUGH A SINGLE CORNEALINCISION

Objective: Cataracts are a frequent complication after silicone oil in fusion for the repair of complicated retinal detachments, occurring in up to 100% of eyes retaining silicone oil for 6 months or more. The a uthors devised a combined procedure for cataract and silicone oil remo val with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation through a single corneal incision and evaluated their results. Design: A prospective, noncompar ative case series. Participants: Thirty-four eyes of 34 consecutive pa tients with a history of retinal detachment repair requiring silicone oil placement in whom a clinically significant cataract subsequently d eveloped were identified when removal of silicone oil was scheduled. I ntervention: All 34 eyes were prospectively entered into a study to ev aluate the efficacy and potential complications of a combined procedur e for cataract and silicone oil removal with posterior chamber lens im plantation. All patients underwent uncomplicated phacoemulsification r emoval of cataract followed by removal of silicone oil and placement o f an IOL through a single corneal incision. Main Outcome Measure: Recu rrent retinal detachment and IOL-related complications were measured. Results: Ten eyes had recurrent retinal detachments develop. Final vis ual acuity ranged from 6/12 to hand movements with 25 eyes (74%) showi ng stabilized or improved vision. Pre-existing macular pathology and r ecurrent retinal detachment generally were responsible for poor visual outcome. Conclusions: Combined phacoemulsification, IOL implant with silicone oil removal is a useful procedure in these complicated eyes. Visual outcome generally is good with improvement in visual acuity, ev en with recurrent retinal detachment or pre-existing macular pathology or both.