Complications of prophylactic argon laser treatment of retinal breaks and degenerations in 2,000 eyes

The decision to treat retinal breaks and degenerations prophylactically should be made with an awareness of the incidence of complications associated with argon laser photocoagulation (ALP). We evaluated retrospectively 2,000 eyes with retinal breaks and degenerations treated with ALP, with follow-up from 6 to 84 months (mean 46 months). The only complications during photocoagulation were petectal intra- and preretinal hemorrhages, which absorbed after a few days. Complications after treatment were limited to epiretinal membrane formation in the macular area in four eyes (0.2%). The applied laser energy in three of these four eyes was significantly greater (mean 34.4 mJ) than in the total 2,000 eyes (mean 7.2 mJ). This finding supports the observation by other authors that extensive photocoagulation is associated with an increased incidence of epiretinal membrane formation.