POSTERIOR UVEAL EFFUSION POST TRABECULECTOMY IN UNILATERAL INFANTILE GLAUCOMA: A CASE REPORT AND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES.

Choroidal effusion is an abnormal collection of fluid within the suprachoroidal potential space. It is a common complication following glaucoma filtering surgeries such as trabeculectomy. It is a clinical diagnosis that sometimes goes undetected or unreported, except when symptomatic. Reported incident rates is 7.9 - 18.8% for serous effusions and 0.7 - 3% for haemorrhagic effusions. This report aims to highlight a case of choroidal effusion after trabeculectomy and its management challenges. CASE REPORT: A seven year old boy presented to our facility with history of cloudy appearance of the right eye of five years duration. He was diagnosed with right infantile glaucoma. Intraocular pressures (IOP) were 44mmHg and 18mmHg right and left eyes respectively. Patient subsequently had right trabeculectomy. He developed hypotony at post-operative day two and a right choroidal effusion was noticed at post-operative day four. As a result of this, he initially had a right anterior chamber reformation with ocular viscoelastic on day seven. Later, a compression suture over the bleb and sclerostomy was performed 11 days post initial surgery. Choroidal effusion progressively regressed post-operatively and completely resolved at day five post-sclerostomy and effusion drainage.
CONCLUSION: Choroidal effusion is a common complication after trabeculectomy in which conservative management results in resolution. However, when conservative management fails, surgical intervention should not be delayed to maximize good outcome. © Association of Resident Doctors, UCH, Ibadan.