Circumscribed choroidal hemangiomas: long-term visual prognosis

Twenty-one patients with a circumscribed choroidal hemangioma in one eye were followed for various intervals ranging from three years to over nine years after diagnosis. Eighteen of the 21 were treated with xenon arc and/or argon laser photocoagulation to the hemangioma in an attempt to reduce or eliminate a secondary retinal detachment at some point during the follow-up period. Only four of the 21 had visual acuity of 6/12 or better in the involved eye at the time of the most recent follow-up, and 15 of the 21 had visual acuity of 6/60 or worse. Persistent nonrhegmatogenous retinal detachment involving the fovea and degenerative changes in the macular retina secondary to prior retinal detachment accounted for most of the visual impairment in these 21 eyes.