Topical aqueous suppression does not significantly affect duration of intraocular gas tamponade after vitrectomy.

Purpose: To determine if topical aqueous suppression affects the duration of intraocular sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas tamponade after pars plana vitrectomy.

Methods: A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on patients undergoing 23-gauge sutured pars plana vitrectomy with air-fluid exchange and 20% SF6 gas tamponade. Eyes were randomly assigned to receive either postoperative topical dorzolamide 2%-timolol 0.5% twice a day or no additional drops (control group). Standard postoperative topical antibiotics and corticosteroids were used by all patients.

Results: A total of 21 patients were recruited for the study. Four were excluded because of noncompliance with use of dorzolamide-timolol. In the remaining 17 patients, 8 were randomly assigned to the dorzolamide-timolol group and 9 to the control group. Topical dorzolamide-timolol drops twice a day did not affect the duration of SF6 gas tamponade after pars plana vitrectomy (17.1 vs. 18.1 days with no drops, P = 0.35). The difference in mean gas duration was -1.0 days with a 95% confidence interval of -3.2 days to 1.2 days. Secondary analyses did not reveal a difference in SF6 duration based on lens status, presence of diabetes or hypertension, vitrectomy versus combined buckle with vitrectomy, or patient age.

Conclusion: Topical aqueous suppression with dorzolamide-timolol does not have a large effect on duration of SF6 gas tamponade after pars plana vitrectomy.