Laser-aided external drainage of subretinal fluid: prospective randomized comparison with needle drainage

In a prospective randomized study of 50 consecutive eyes, we compared the safety and efficacy of draining subretinal fluid transchoroidally in primary scleral buckling for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment using a needle, with the safety and efficacy of the same procedure using an angulated endolaser probe set at 1 W for 0.2 seconds, using an average of 2.4 laser burns. There were no significant complications associated with the laser-aided drainage procedures (25 eyes). In the transchoroidal needle drainage procedures (25 eyes), subretinal hemorrhage occurred in three eyes and retinal incarceration in one. Thus, though our numbers are small, there appears to be some advantage of laser-assisted drainage in terms of a lower incidence of complications.