Unilateral proliferative sickle retinopathy: a model for photocoagulation in the proliferative retinopathies

We present a case report of a patient with unilateral proliferative sickle retinopathy who progressed to intractable vitreous hemorrhage, traction retinal detachment, and severe loss of vision after unsuccessful vitrectomy surgery. The patient's other eye had chronic uveitis resulting in widespread destruction of the retinal tissue, and subsequently the eye did not have any evidence of neovascularization. This observation is consistent with those seen in proliferative diabetic retinopathy where retinal damage from high myopia, trauma, or other cause typically protects that eye from the advanced stages of diabetic retinopathy. As in this case, the eye with long-standing uveitis did not have proliferative sickle retinopathy.