Surgical outcomes following repair of traumatic retinal detachments in cognitively impaired adolescents with self-injurious behavior.

Purpose: To assess anatomic outcomes following repair of traumatic retinal detachment (RD) among a cohort of cognitively impaired adolescents with self-injurious behaviors.

Methods: Main outcome measures in this retrospective, consecutive, interventional case series were retinal attachment and postoperative complications.

Results: Complete retinal reattachment was initially achieved in all 9 eyes of 9 patients. Six (67%) eyes had chronic RD at initial presentation, and 7 (78%) patients had limited vision from inoperable RD in the fellow eye. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy led to recurrent RD in 4 (44%) eyes at a mean of 2.7 months. Final total or partial retinal attachment was achieved in 6 (67%) and 3 (33%) eyes, respectively, with a mean of 1.7 procedures over a mean follow-up of 22.4 months. Silicone oil emulsification led to progressive glaucoma in 4 (50%) of 8 eyes in which it was used, requiring silicone oil exchange (2 eyes) or removal (2 eyes). Recurrent RD developed in both eyes from which silicone oil was removed despite prior retinal anatomic stability for more than 6 months.

Conclusion: Cognitively impaired adolescents with self-injurious behaviors typically presented with severe visual impairment from chronic traumatic RD in one or both eyes. Despite initial anatomic success, formation of proliferative vitreoretinopathy and further ocular trauma from continued self-injurious behaviors led to a high rate of recurrent RD. Long-term silicone oil tamponade may prevent recurrent RD in this challenging scenario but is associated with vision loss from progressive glaucoma and corneal decompensation.