Filtering surgery in children: barriers to success.

The use of trabeculectomy in advanced pediatric glaucoma is reviewed. Intraocular pressure was controlled in only 50% of the patients, and the best visual results was 20/200. Complications of vitreous loss, scleral collapse, ectasia, retinal detachment, and endophthalmitis were encountered. No evidence was found to support the claim that in the seriously compromised buphthalmic eyes, trabeculectomy is safer than other filtering operations since it filters under a scleral flap.