Retreatment and Further Postoperative Care
Retreatment rates after contact transscleral cyclophotocoagulation have ranged from 7% to as high as 55%,31 with variable periods of follow-up. As most of the published series are retrospective, no specific criteria for retreatment were defined. However, generally it is undertaken when the IOP has once again increased to a clinically unacceptable level with maximal tolerated medications. A much higher rate of retreatment is reported in pediatric patients.
Lin et al.,32 in their series of contact Nd : YAG transscleral cyclophotocoagulation, found that 22% of patients required retreatment and 30% required an additional intervention other than cyclophotocoagulation. The interventions included tube shunt (8.8%), enucleation (7.3%), cyclocryotherapy (16.2%), and trabeculectomy (4.4%). Retreatment rates of 49% were reported by Bloom et al.33 in a large series of 210 eyes with follow-up ranging up to 30 months.