Immediate fundus complications after retinal scatter photocoagulation. I. Clinical picture and pathogenesis

Fifty diabetics with severe background retinopathy or early proliferative retinopathy underwent retinal scatter photocoagulation with either the argon laser or the xenon arc photocoagulators. Choroidal detachment, exudative retinal detachment, shallowing of the anterior chamber, and secondary angle closure glaucoma were observed. Exudative retinal detachment and choroidal detachment subsided in two days to 2 1/2 weeks. Glaucoma secondary to choroidal detachment with angle closure was observed in 11 eyes, three of which required medical treatment, although surgical therapy was not needed. This secondary glaucoma was detected in the first two days and subsided in subsequent days, with intraocular pressure reaching pretreatment values at the fifth day. No long term sequelae were observed in these complications, except in one eye that developed macular edema that lasted for four months with decreased visual acuity; nevertheless, vision returned to the pretreatment level one year after photocoagulation.