"Early" vitrectomy for vasoproliferative retinopathy in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Early vitrectomy was carried out in 22 eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy and evidence of partial vitreous detachment in 17 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. All the eyes had undergone panretinal laser photocoagulation, and all had a visual acuity of 6/12 or better, but 13 had had a vitreous hemorrhage. After a mean follow-up period of 29 months 19 of the eyes had retained the same visual acuity, 18 had been free of renewed vitreous hemorrhage for 6 months, there had been no macular retinal detachments and all the anterior segments were normal. The three instances of persistent visual loss were due to recurrent vitreous hemorrhage.