J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  2013 Feb;54(2):351-356. 10.3341/jkos.2013.54.2.351.

Spontaneous Reattachment of Descemet's Membrane Detachment at Postoperative Two Months, Which Occurred During Cataract Surgery

• Lee SE
• Cho KJ
• Cho WH
• Kyung SE
• Chang MH

• KMID: 2216674
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2013.54.2.351

Abstract

PURPOSE
To report a case of spontaneously reattached Descemet's membrane detachment, which first occurred during the cataract surgery, and still remained after injection of 100% air into the chamber.
CASE SUMMARY
A 78-year-old woman came to the clinic with decreased visual acuity. She had a brunescent cataract and underwent extracapsular cataract extraction with a posterior chamber lens implantation. During the irrigation and aspiration procedure, the Descemet's membrane was torn and detached. An anterior chamber injection of 100% air was performed prior to the conclusion of surgery. Descemet's membrane detachment remained at the center of the cornea and was naturally reattached without any surgical procedure. At 2 months after the surgery, a well-reattached Descemet's membrane and a clear central cornea were observed.
CONCLUSIONS
Descemet's membrane detachment is a rare but potentially serious complication of intraocular surgery. The authors report a case of naturally reattached Descemet's membrane detachment which remained after injection of 100% air into the chamber.

Keyword

Cataract surgery; Descemet's membrane; Spontaneous reattachment

MeSH Terms

Anterior Chamber
Cataract
Cataract Extraction
Cornea
Descemet Membrane
Female
Humans
Porphyrins
Visual Acuity
Porphyrins

Figure

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  Figure 1. Descemet membrane detachment during extracapsular cataract surgery. (A) Descemet membrane tear (yellow arrows) at the mid-periphery cornea due to insertion of instruments. Scrolled edge of descemet membrane (black arrows) (B) The area of Descemet membrane detachment involved 50% of the entire cornea (dotted line).

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  Figure 2. Anterior segment photography at postoperative 1 month. The BCVA was 0.04. (A) Moderate stromal edema at the central cornea (B) Descemet membrane detachment was at the inferior cornea (black arrow) and about 40% of entire cornea was involved. The tear margin was not scrolled and separation between the stroma and descemet membrane was less than 1 mm.

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  Figure 3. Anterior segment photography at postoperative 2 months. The BCVA was 0.3. (A) Descemet membrane is well attached and corneal edema is no longer seen. (B) Specular microscopy at postoperative two months.

Reference

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