Expanding gas bubbles for the repair of tears in the posterior pole.

Expanding, long-lived intraocular perfluorocarbon gas bubbles can make possible the repair of retinal detachments with holes or tears in the posterior pole. Vitrectomy is not necessary for injecting the gas. The patient should be prone in order to bring the gas bubble to the top of the visual axis. Four perfluorocarbon gases have the appropriate coefficient of expansion to provide adequate intraocular gas volumes by displacing the fluid vitreous. Volumes of 1 to 2 cc are sufficient. Intraocular space for these amounts can be obtained either by draining subretinal fluid or by injecting 0.6 cc of C2F6 (which expands 3.3x) without draining. If the patient cannot tolerate being prone, most of the fluid vitreous can be displaced with an intraocular injection of 0.9 cc of C4F10 (which expands 5x).