Use of sodium hyaluronate for the repair of giant retinal tears

G. C. Brown and W. E. Benson
Retina Service, Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.

Sodium hyaluronate (Healon) was used in conjunction with pars plana vitrectomy and scleral buckling to manage unilateral giant retinal tears of 180 degrees or more with severe folding in six consecutive cases. In each instance the retina was successfully flattened, and five of the six have remained so for at least one year. The technique enables the surgeon to unroll a retinal flap that is markedly inverted on itself and oppose it to the underlying retinal pigment epithelium.