Factors influencing retinal redetachment after removal of buckling elements.

Scleral buckling elements were removed from 152 eyes because of infection (50 eyes), erosion (69 eyes), extrusion (25 eyes), pain (5 eyes), allergy (2 eyes), and excessive buckle height (1 eye). The overall retinal redetachment rate was 14.5%. Short duration of buckling and the presence of retinal tears, as opposed to holes, appeared to predispose to recurrence. A significantly higher redetachment rate was found when infected buckling elements were considered alone (28%). This was attributed to the short duration of buckling and the associated inflammatory reaction found in these eyes.