Vitreous surgery and retinal detachment

Vitrectomy has proved to be extremely useful in facilitating reattachment of the retina in a variety of complicated detachments. The author's experience has been exclusively with the vitreous infusion suction cutter. Several other, similar, instruments are now available, and they are described in a recent review article on vitreous surgery [8]. The techniques required for successful surgery are not easily mastered, and it is the author's practice to have a trainee assist on about 50 operations before assuming major responsibility for a difficult microdissection.