Photocoagulation in the diagnosis of senile retinoschisis.

In five of seven patients treated with argon laser photocoagulation, lesions were placed around retinal breaks and in the center of the breaks directly on exposed pigment epithelium. In a sixth patient, the lesions were placed through an area of atrophic detached retina on the bare pigment epithelium. In the last patient, the lesions were placed in the center of a large outer wall hole in an area of senile retinoschisis directly on bare pigment epithelium. The white reaction to photocoagulation, previously thought to differentiate between retinoschisis and retinal detachment, was produced in the eye with a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. The white reaction also was produced in the center of retinal breaks where the photoreceptor layer was not in contact with the retinal pigment epithelium. Photocoagulation was not a definitive test, and must be evaluated with other clinical findings.