Noncontact retinal photocoagulation at the slit-lamp biomicroscope

Four patients had either ocular conditions that made the use of a contact lens for retinal photocoagulation undesirable, or optical aberrations of the ocular media that made photocoagulation with a conventional contact lens difficult. A hand-held 90-diopter lens permitted retinal photocoagulation to be performed at a conventional slit-lamp biomicroscope laser without corneal contact and assisted in delivering laser burns under physical or optical circumstances that would be difficult or impossible with conventional contact lenses. Four patients without ocular surface or media abnormalities were also treated by this method.