Silicone oil and its influence on electrophysiologic findings.

Twenty patients with complicated retinal detachments who were treated with scleral buckling procedures, vitrectomy, and temporary silicone oil filling underwent electrophysiologic tests before and after silicone oil removal. Electroretinographic responses were markedly low or even absent as long as the silicone oil was in the eye but a few days after silicone oil removal the electroretinographic amplitudes had increased in all 20 patients and did not change significantly thereafter. In 12 patients the basic level of the electrooculogram was low as long as the oil was in the eye but was at least twice the previous value in seven patients after oil removal. A light peak of more than 150% occurred in two patients before oil removal and in six after oil removal.