Multicolour® imaging findings in residual emulsified silicone oil bubbles

To describe the findings of Multicolour® imaging (MCI) in the presence of residual emulsified silicone oil (SiO) droplets.

A 62-year-old man had previously undergone surgery for a traumatic retinal detachment in the left eye, followed by SiO removal a few years ago. His presenting visual acuity was 6/60 in the left eye and intraocular pressure was 12 mm Hg. Clinical examination revealed the presence of emulsified residual SiO droplets in the vitreous cavity, 'inverse hyperoleon' at the posterior pole and pathological myopia. Retinal findings were documented using optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), and MCI on the Spectralis (Heidelberg, Germany) machine.

On OCT, the emulsified SiO droplets in the preretinal and intraretinal layers appeared as multiple hyperreflective dots with no underlying shadowing trapped beneath the residual posterior hyaloid or preretinal membrane in the region of the posterior staphyloma. Residual emulsified silicon oil on the retinal surface appeared to have greenish hue on the composite multicolour image and was hyperreflective on individual blue and green reflectance images and dark and hyporeflective on the infrared reflectance image. The SiO droplets appeared dark and were difficult to identify on the short wavelength FAF image.

To the best of our knowledge, this case report describes the MCI findings in emulsified SiO droplets for the first time.