Trabeculectomy: a retrospective long-term follow-up study

The results of the surgical procedure of trabeculectomy as performed in our hospital on 100 eyes (67 patients) are presented. At the end of the follow-up period, with a range of 1 to 5 years and a mean follow-up of 36 months, there was an overall success rate of 68%. Criteria for success included no further visual field loss or disc damage, and no glaucomatous etiology for a decrease in visual acuity. Only in half of failure cases an IOP of more than 20 mmHg was recorded at least once during the follow-up period. Hyphaema, resolving most of the time in less than 7 days, was the most frequent postoperative complication (66%), followed by hypotomia (29%). Progression of lensopacities occurred in 22% of eyes.