[Retinal detachment and argon laser prophylactic treatment (author's transl)]

We have studied 6 retinal detachments which hapened after a preventive photocoagulation with argon laser in 6 patients who had already had a severe retinal detachment on the other eye (2 anatomical success on 5 operated cases). This preventive photocoagulation was done on eyes which at the term were free of any retinal dehiscence. In this group of 6 we notice 2 giant tears (greater than 70 degrees) or 33% and 3 large tears (between 20 degrees and 70 degrees) or 33%. These high amounts do not correspond to what has been noticed before: - on the non photocoagulated fellow eyes (neither giant nor large tear) - on the whole lot of operated retinal detachments during the same period of time in our unit (2% of giant and 5,7% of large tears). We think that the responsability of laser in the development of these large lesions in predisposed eyes must be thought about. Studies on a larger scale will be necessary to have a more definite idea on this subject.