Results and complications of temporary silicone oil tamponade in patients with complicated retinal detachments

Background: To assess the results and complications of temporary silicone o il tamponade in the treatment of complicated retinal detachments. Methods: Fifty-eight consecutive eyes undergoing silicone oil removal were studied in a retrospective fashion. Forty-two eyes with proliferative vitre oretinopathy, nine eyes with giant tears, and seven traumatized eyes were i ncluded. in addition to anatomic and visual results, the following complica tions and their associated preoperative and intraoperative Variables were a ssessed: glaucoma, hypotony, and keratopathy. Results: Anatomic success was achieved in 81% of the eyes. Postoperative gl aucoma was found in 12%, hypotony in 9%, and keratopathy in 7% of the eyes. Twenty-six (45%) of the 58 eyes had an increase in visual acuity of at lea st two Snellen lines after silicone oil removal. After multivariate logisti c regression analysis for all variables versus the visual and anatomic resu lts and versus the complications of glaucoma, hypotony, and keratopathy suc cessively, a total of three or more operations (P < 0.05; odds ratio, 14.7) and the absence of an encircling band (P < 0.05; odds ratio, 29.9) were as sociated with redetachment, and a retinectomy size of more than 180 degrees was associated with hypotonia (P < 0.05; odds ratio, 67.5). Conclusions: Temporary silicone oil tamponade may be associated with a lowe r incidence of complications than recent studies have reported. Despite the acceptable risk of recurrent retinal detachment, the early removal of sili cone oil may yield a lower rate of anterior segment complications and an in crease in visual acuity in approximately half the eyes.