Should my child have a scleral buckle or vitrectomy done for her weak eye?
The following posts from the ROP list explore the question of whether scleral buckle or vitrectomy should be performed on a child with good vision in one eye and poor outcome in the other. Opinions on the effectiveness of both procedures are also expressed. The ROP list was moderated by Dr. Scott Richards until August, 2002. The list has closed now. For more information about lists of interest to people with visual impairments, please visit the email list index. Date: January 19, 1999 From: Dale Lips Dear Dave, You are facing a very difficult decision. Our situation isn’t exactly the same because Alex was 9 when we were faced with the same question. He had stages III and IV ROP in his two eyes as an infant. Luckily, the ROP regressed in both eyes without any detachment (they were just experimenting with cryo and laser back then), but did have scarring, etc. He was 20/200 in both eyes until age 9 when his left eye suffered a complete detachment. We didn’t catch it immediately. When we d
