Vitrectomy for nondiabetic vitreous hemorrhage.

In a group of 94 eyes with nondiabetic vitreous hemorrhage that underwent pars plana vitrectomy between March 1974 and September 1982, the causes of the hemorrhages were retinal branch vein obstruction (36 eyes), blunt trauma (11 eyes), cataract extraction (ten eyes), subretinal neovascularization (nine eyes), Eales' disease (eight eyes), Terson's syndrome (four eyes), and idiopathic (five eyes) and miscellaneous (11 eyes) conditions. Vision was improved postoperatively in 88 of the 94 eyes, including all of those that underwent blunt trauma or cataract extraction, those with Eales' disease and Terson's syndrome, and those in the idiopathic and miscellaneous groups. Final visual acuities, which depended primarily on the underlying condition and its effect on the macula, were 20/20 or better in ten eyes, 20/25 to 20/40 in 37 eyes, 20/50 to 20/200 in 26 eyes, 20/300 to 20/400 in 11 eyes, 9/200 to 5/200 in three eyes, and hand movements or light perception in seven eyes. Retinal tears, the most common surgical complication, occurred in 18 eyes. The incidence of anterior retinal tears was reduced from 11% (11 of 38 eyes) to 4% (two of 56 eyes) after we began using a vitrectomy probe with a smaller diameter. Some postoperative lens opacification occurred in 16 of 50 phakic eyes, and the incidence of later lens opacification increased as the follow-up lengthened.