The Role and Timing of Pars Plana Vitrectomy in Penetrating Ocular Trauma

Before theadvent of modern vitreous surgery, penetrating trauma confined to the anterior segment had a favorable prognosis,¹while injuries involving the posterior segment resulted in enucleation or no light perception vision in most cases.²,³During the early years of vitrectomy, its use in the management of severe posterior segment injuries was questioned,⁴although currently most surgeons agree that vitreoretinal techniques are valuable in salvaging many eyes that otherwise would have been lost. ROLE OF VITRECTOMY The general consensus is that vitrectomy is indicated in the setting of traumatic endophthalmitis,⁵nonmagnetic intravitreal foreign bodies,⁶traumatic retinal detachment,⁷⁻⁹and perforating ocular injuries.⁴The role of vitrectomy for traumatic vitreous hemorrhage without retinal detachment in open-globe injuries remains controversial, as studies⁴,⁶have questioned its beneficial effect. Despite this, many surgeons routinely use vitrectomy in this setting because of strong experimental evidence that hemorrhage admixed