Combat eye injury: laser photocoagulation prophylaxis of retinal detachment

Traumatic retinal detachment can occur in combat eye injuries and has numerous complications. We presume that the incidence would be much higher if we omitted to perform argon laser prophylactic treatment in cases of (1) traumatic retinal rupture, (2) retained retinal foreign body (before and after surgery), and (3) vitreoretinal proliferation with or without sector traction detachment. In these cases we performed a modified method of blockade with confluent, two-row laser spots, which proved to be more efficient clinically and formed stronger retina-choroid adhesions in experimental studies. In a total of 78 performed laser coagulations, retinal detachment occurred in three, all of them with already present traction retinal detachment.