[Perforation of the eyeball in retrobulbar anesthesia]

The observation of a female patient with senile cataract is presented. After retrobulbar anesthesia using xiline, big ocular hypotony with ocular globe deformation was remarked. Although the operation was done without any incident, the patient cannot see with the operated eye and blood in vitreous was bio-microscopically detected, confirming the diagnosis of ocular globe perforation during anesthesia. This showed that single-use needles, with long bizeau and very thin margins can produce ocular globe perforation due to retrobulbar injections. Besides the needle's type, other risk factors are axial myopia, posterior and inferior staphyloma, multiple para- and retrobulbar injections, repeated scleral interventions.