A simple way to clear the media for vitrectomy in eyes with corneal edema

Abstract

Herein we introduce a simple approach for clearing an edematous cornea during vitreoretinal surgery in eyes with decompensated corneal endothelium, allowing the surgeon to postpone penetrating keratoplasty. This technique was performed in 3 eyes by filling the anterior chambers with air or silicone oil, and sufficiently cleared the media for completion of vitrectomy. This simple technique enables completion of the vitrectomy without a temporary keratoprosthesis and penetrating keratoplasty in eyes with corneal edema due to endothelial decompensation.

Keywords: Endothelial Cell Loss, Corneal; Keratoplasty; Silicone Oil.

Figure 1.

Completely opaque cornea (left image) due to the presence of a retrocorneal membrane (right image).

Figure 2.

Specular microscopy of the same eye as in figure 1, showing the absence of corneal endothelial cells.

Figure 3.

Same eye 2 weeks after removal of the retrocorneal membrane. The cornea has cleared to a large extent (left image) without edema (right image). Remnants of the membrane are visible peripherally (arrow).