[Globe explosion due to intravitreal injection]

An 83-year old female was given an intravitreal injection of 0.4 ml of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) by her local ophthalmologist for age-related maculopathy with a large choroidal neovascularisation in the left eye. During the injection, globe explosion occurred with nasal limbal rupture and extrusion of intraocular contents. Emergency primary wound repair was performed at the Eye Surgery Centre Erlangen-Mitte. During surgery, a 9 mm limbal rupture with prolapse of half of the iris and subconjunctival extrusion of the complete natural lens was discovered. After lens removal, anterior vitrectomy and iris repositioning, the wound was closed and the eye left aphakic. The further postoperative course was unremarkable and the patient retained her preoperative visual acuity of counting fingers. In this case, several factors may have contributed to the dramatic events: relative nanophthalmus (preoperative refraction + 5.0dpt), scleral weakness secondary to chemotherapy for leukemia, older age, and a relatively large volume of injected TA. The intravitreal injection of drugs may cause serious complications. Paracentesis or limited pars plana vitrectomy should be considered prior to intravitreal injection in high-risk cases to prevent such disastrous complications.