Retrospective review of 50 eyes with long-term silicone oil tamponade for more than 12 months.

Background: Silicone oil (SO) is an established tamponade in treating complex vitreoretinal diseases. Although SO is intended to be removed after several weeks to months, permanent SO might be unavoidable in a small subgroup of patients with an extremely complicated clinical course. The aim of this study is to describe the long-term effects of intraocular SO tamponade.

Methods: This retrospective study included 50 patients with intraocular SO (Oxane 5700 Bausch & Lomb, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK) for at least 12 months. The most common reasons for long-term SO tamponade were: retinal re-detachment (re-RD), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), ocular trauma, and persistent hypotony.

Results: Mean age was 59.2 ± 18.4 years, and mean duration of silicone oil in the eye was 54.5 ± 58.6 months (median, 30 months). The average number of previous surgeries were 2.2 ± 1.5. Anatomic success was achieved in 37/50 (74%) of patients. Visual acuities (logMAR) were 1.8 ± 0.6, 1.6 ± 0.6, 2 ± 0.7 and intraocular pressures (mmHg) were 15.6 ± 7, 15.7 ± 5.5, 16.5 ± 7.1 at 3 months, 1 year and at last follow-up respectively. The main long-term silicone-oil-related complications observed were: band keratopathy (8%), corneal decompensation (12%), iris rubeosis (14%), and optic neuropathy (28%). Forty percent of patients achieved ambulatory vision in the SO-filled eye at final follow-up.

Conclusion: Long-term silicone oil can be a last-resort option in selected patients with severe vitreoretinal disease. Anterior and posterior segment complications did occur at significant rates. Forty percent of our patients maintained ambulatory vision. The actual number of patients that achieved satisfactory stereopsis and benefited functionally from long-term SO was much less [7/50 (14%)].