Scleral buckling surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment with subretinal proliferation

Purpose To evaluate the outcome of scleral buckling surgery in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) with subretinal proliferation. Methods In this retrospective study, a chart review of all patients with RRD associated with subretinal proliferation who were primarily treated with scleral buckling procedure, from April 2007 to April 2014, was undertaken. Main outcome measures were anatomical retinal reattachment and visual acuity. Results Forty-four eyes of 43 patients including 24 males and 19 females with a mean age of 26.5±13.1 years were evaluated. Immediately after the surgery, retina was reattached in all eyes. However, five eyes (11.3%) needed additional surgery for retinal redetachment. Single surgery anatomical success rate was 88.7%. Four eyes (9.1%), needed pars plana vitrectomy for the treatment of redetachment associated with proliferative vitreoretinopathy and scleral buckle revision surgery was successfully performed in the other eye. Best corrected visual acuity improved from 1.5±0.9 logMAR before surgery to 1.1±0.7 logMAR after surgery ( P <0.001). An improvement in BCVA of >2 lines was found in 23 eyes (52.2%) and worsening of best corrected visual acuity of >2 lines was observed in 2 eyes (4.5%). Conclusions Scleral buckling surgery is highly successful in eyes with RRD associated with subretinal proliferation.