Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Purpose: To report the incidence and management of Descemet membrane detachment (DMD) after canaloplasty.
Methods: Review of all patients who developed DMD after canaloplasty at Tulane Glaucoma Services was performed. Visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and number of glaucoma medications up to 1 year of follow-up were included in the analysis.
Results: The incidence of DMD was 7.4% (12 eyes of 162). Eighty-three percent (10/12) of the DMDs involved the inferior quadrants and measured <3 mm. Intracorneal hemorrhage within DMD occurred in 58% (7/12), whereas 42% (5/12) developed DMD with intracorneal viscoelastic (Healon GV) alone. Two patients had large detachments measuring 5 to 6 mm extending into the visual axis. DMD resolved completely with or without drainage except for 1 patient who developed corneal decompensation, needing penetrating keratoplasty.
Conclusions: DMD with or without intracorneal hemorrhage is not an infrequent complication of canaloplasty and can occasionally lead to corneal decompensation.
Introduction
Canaloplasty is a new surgical glaucoma procedure that involves viscodilation of the Schlemm canal with the placement of an intracanalicular tension suture. Compared with traditional surgeries, this has the advantage of independence from bleb and bleb-related problems. Rare complications of this surgery that have been previously reported include transient hypotension, hyphema, and Descemet membrane detachment (DMD). As canaloplasty is a relatively new procedure, the natural history, incidence, and management of DMDs after canaloplasty is not well documented. We report the natural history, incidence, and management of patients with DMD after canaloplasty in our series.