Long-term risk of glaucoma after encircling scleral buckle

To determine the long-term risk of developing glaucoma after an encircling scleral buckle procedure.

Retrospective case series of patients with at least 10 years of follow-up who underwent successful, unilateral retinal detachment repair by encircling scleral buckle. The main outcome measure was the proportion of eyes that developed perimetric glaucoma of buckled compared with fellow eyes.

Sixty-eight patients with an average postoperative follow-up of 21 years were included. Perimetric glaucoma developed in 13% (9 patients), and an additional 22% (15 patients) had preperimetric glaucoma or were glaucoma suspects. Perimetric glaucoma was present in 2.9% of patients in the buckled eye only, 8.8% in the fellow eye only (P = 0.27), and 1.3% in both eyes. There was no increased prevalence of ocular antihypertensive use in buckled (5.9%) compared with fellow eyes (11.8%, P = 0.36).

Our study showed no evidence of increased risk for developing glaucoma after repair of retinal detachment in eyes that underwent an encircling scleral buckling technique compared with fellow eyes with follow-up of at least 10 years.