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Post-LASIK retinal detachment can cost vision
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CARACAS, Venezuela — Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment after LASIK surgery for myopia is a serious complication that can result in decreased vision even after surgical repair, a retrospective study here showed.
J. Fernando Arevalo, MD, and colleagues at several ophthalmic centers in Venezuela reviewed the records of a total of 38,823 eyes that underwent LASIK surgery for myopia of between 0.75 D and 29 D. They found 33 eyes of 27 patients that developed rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, a frequency of 0.08%. Detachments occurred between 12 days and 60 months after LASIK. Most of the detachments (60.6%) occurred 1 year or more after LASIK, according to the study.
Eyes that developed retinal detachments had a mean of –8.75 D before LASIK. Most detachments and breaks occurred in the temporal quadrants, the authors said.
Final best corrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better was attained in 39% of eyes. BCVA of 20/200 or worse occurred in 23% of eyes. Reasons for poor visual outcome included development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy, epiretinal membrane, new breaks, displaced corneal cap and cataract development.
The study was limited by its retrospective nature, the study authors noted. Furthermore, the study had no control group, it was nonrandomized and included a small number of myopic eyes with retinal detachments that underwent multiple surgical techniques.
The study is published in the November/December issue of Journal of Refractive Surgery.