Scleral buckle surgery for pseudophakic and aphakic retinal detachment in western Nepal.

INTRODUCTION Retinal detachment remains one of the most serious complications of cataract surgery. Treatment of this condition has represented a challenge for vitreoretinal surgeons.Scleral buckle (SB) surgery is one of the treatment options in pseudophakic and aphakic retinal detachment (RD). AIMS To find out the anatomical and visual outcome of SB in pseudophakic and aphakic RD. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Retrospective case series of 46 consecutive eyes of 46 patients with RD (38 pseudophakic and 8 aphakic eyes) that had undergone conventional SB surgery were reviewed from patient files. Postoperative retinal status at 3 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 months were recorded to see the anatomical success rate after retinal reattachment surgery. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 3 months follow-up was noted. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 54.28 ± 13.49 years. Forty eyes (86.9 %) had primary attachment by 6 weeks duration. Five eyes had undergone repeat surgery within a six-week duration (pars plana vitrectomy). Forty patients had follow-up visit to 12 weeks, achieving retinal attachment in 37 eyes (80.5 %). Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 3 months was better than 6/60 in 18 eyes (39.1%), BCVA better or equal to 1/60 but less than 6/60 in 18 eyes (39.1%) and BCVA less than 1/60 in 4 eyes (8.7 %). CONCLUSION Conventional scleral buckling has good outcome for pseudophakic and aphakic RD and can be useful for patients in peripheral eye hospitals where patients cannot afford high cost surgeries.