In order to evaluate the prophylactic effect on retinal detachment a retrospective analysis was made of the prophylactic laser coagulations for retinal defects and degenerations performed on patients of the Free University of Amsterdam during the period from 1982 to July 1986. The main conclusion is that in a total of 273 treated eyes only two developed a spontaneous retinal detachment after coagulation. This is an incidence of 0.7%, which compares favourably with untreated groups. The treatment criteria were: 1. symptomatic defects; 2. defects and degenerations in fellow eyes; 3. asymptotic defects in aphakia, myopia > 5 D, single eyes and a positive family history.
The most frequent complication was vitreous haemorrhage due to rupture of a patent vessel bridging the detached lip of a horseshoe tear, but vision was restored to normal in all but one case after the haemorrhage cleared.
Key words prophylactic laser coagulations - retinal defects - retinal detachment - vitreous haemorrhage