Surgery as the primary management of proliferative vitreoretinopathy: a history reflecting my experiences and biases.

Although attempts were made ot reattach retinas using proliferative vitreoretinopathy by various techniques before the 1970s, it was the development and subsequent refinement of closed-eye, mechanized pars plana vitrectomy that initiated the rapid rise in the surgical success rate. This article presents a personal history of the milestone accomplishments that facilitated the strong possibility of success that patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy can now anticipate. Currently, various gasses, chemical compounds, and pharmaceutical agents serve adjunctively to advance surgical techniques with the expectation that they may be the primary curative procedure in the future. As in the past, what is unconventional today may be common tomorrow.