Vitreous loss following infantile cataract surgery.

Vitreous loss occurred in 50 of 475 consecutive eyes undergoing infantile cataract aspirations over a 10-year period. Vitreous loss occurred in eyes predisposed to such loss and in other eyes following the use of faulty instrumentation, poor surgical judgment, or from errors in operative technique. Vitreous loss was managed by the techniques outlined by Castroviejo and Maumanee. An analysis of this series revealed that the operative loss of vitreous in children does not predispose to undesirable sequelae. Postoperative complications are not correlated with the loss of vitreous itself, but rather with the presence of other coincident ocular pathology and/or the persistence of vitreous in or attached to anterior chamber structures. The final attained visual acuity in patients suffering vitreous loss is not different from the average of the same population. Although vitreous loss consequences may be minimized, the authors do not advocate the disturbance of the intact vitreous face either accidentally or intentionally.