A simplified approach to the management of tangential retinal traction bands.

Closed pars plana surgery was confined initially to the removal of opaque vitreous gel after vitreous haemorrhage. By modifying the cutting port of the vitrectomy instrument,' taut intravitreal bands and thick secondary membranes could be severed. Because of their proximity to the retina, preretinal membranes and tangential retinal traction bands were difficult to manage. Although the use of a hooked needle2 facilitated the lifting of these bands from the surface of the retina, it was difficult to sever them with automated vitrectomy instruments or scissors. Scissors had to be miniaturised and their blades angulated to reach the bands from the proper direction.3-5 Often the surgeon had to insert one instrument inside the eye and exchange it later for another, a manoeuvre that increased the risk of inadvertent lens injury and retinal dialysis. This report describes a simplified technique for the management of tangential traction bands with use I of bipolar diathermy in conjunction with a fibreoptic Fig. 1 Wide-angle cutter vitrophage (left). Combination membrane dissector and a vitrectomy instrument. fibreoptic illuminator and Peyman membrane dissector (right). Each instrument is attached to wet-field Materials and methods cautery by leads.