Some observations on ocular manifestation of sickle cell disease.

The ocular manifestations of 76 sickle cell disease patients are reported. Our findings indicate that any type of sickle cell oculopathy may appear in conjunction with any type of hemoglobinopathy and that no single ocular finding is specific to any one type of sickle cell anomaly. Sickle cell oculopathy, particularly retinopathy, is found to be a slowly progressive condition. Treatment of retinal and vitreal neovascularization with photocoagulation seems to be indicated to stop the disease process. Acute retinal vascular occlusion seems to respond favorably to the intravenous administration of low molecular weight dextran and papaverine hydrochloride. Sickle cell patients suffering from retinal detachment do not respond favorably to conventional retinal detachment surgery.