Management of intraretinal metallic foreign bodies without retinopexy in the absence of retinal detachment.

In the management of intraocular metallic foreign bodies impacting or embedded in the posterior retina but without retinal detachment, retinopexy can be difficult or dangerous because of surrounding retinal, subretinal, or choroidal hemorrhage, or the proximity of the foreign body to the optic disc and macula. The authors prospectively managed five such cases by pars plana vitrectomy and foreign body removal without intraoperative or postoperative retinopexy. Fluid gas exchange was performed in only one case. No attempt was made to create a posterior vitreous detachment in any of the cases. After follow-up, ranging between 8 and 35 months, all cases had attached retinas and chorioretinal adhesion around the foreign body site. None of the cases had preretinal macular fibrosis. Four of the five cases had a best corrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better. The other, an aphakic 3-year-old patient, was amblyopic. Spontaneous chorioretinal adhesion appears to obviate the need for retinopexy in these selected cases. The avoidance of retinopexy and fluid gas exchange may decrease the risk of retinal detachment and preretinal macular fibrosis.