Completely covered iridectomy fares best, surgeon says

PHILADELPHIA — Surgeons who avoid putting a peripheral iridectomy at 12 o’clock in patients who have the lid margin at the limbus may help to avoid some postoperative visual disturbances, said one surgeon here.

Surgeons should plan for a completely covered iridectomy, instead, according to Marlene Moster, MD, who presented a study here at the Wills Eye Hospital Annual Alumni Conference. In the study, she evaluated 172 eyes of 93 patients who had undergone peripheral iridectomy and determined the amount of glare and halo in each patient.

“This study indicates that patients who have the iridectomy completely covered by the lid do best,” she said. “Laser peripheral iridectomies are likely to cause more symptoms when they are partially exposed.”

According to Dr. Moster’s data, 15% of the patients had visual symptoms of shadows, ghost images and crescents or lines. The results also showed that 9% of the eyes had complete covered peripheral iridectomy, 26% had partially covered peripheral iridectomy, and 18% had completely exposed peripheral iridectomy.

“The eyes with covered peripheral iridectomy had significantly fewer symptoms than those with partially exposed peripheral iridectomy,” Dr. Moster said.