Massive suprachoroidal hemorrhage: secondary treatment and outcome

Purpose: Massive suprachoroidal expulsive hemorrhage (SCH) is a dramatic an d devastating intraocular complication of intraocular surgery and trauma th at can result in total loss of vision. The aim of our study was to present the results of secondary surgical treatment of eyes following massive SCH. Patients and methods: We treated 10 patients suffering from massive SCH by combined radial sclerotomies for suprachoroidal drainage and vitrectomy wit h use of perfluorocarbon and instillation of silicone oil. We analyzed the clinical characteristics, visual acuity and anatomical status before and af ter secondary treatment. Results: Visual acuity of all eyes suffering from SCI-I was light perceptio n. Postoperatively five patients with SCH showed either no improvement of f unction or visual acuity of counting fingers. An increase in visual acuity to maximal 0.1 was seen in four eyes; one patient achieved 0.6. With a mini mum of 6 months' follow-up, four eyes developed hypotony, two eyes became p hthisical, and in two eyes recurrent traction retinal detachment occurred. Conclusions: Secondary treatment by combined suprachoroidal drainage by scl erotomies and vitrectomy should be performed to minimize the damaging effec t of choroidal hemorrhage.