This patient had a symptomatic retinal tear superotemporally in the left eye. The tear was treat with cryotherapy and fundus image shows the appearance of the retina one month later.
Learning Points:
Untreated retinal tears have a very high risk for progressing to retinal detachment. Urgent laser photocoagulation or cryotherapy prevents liquid vitreous from leaking thru the break. Patients need to be followed closely postoperatively to be sure no new breaks develop and that chorioretinal scarring surrounds the break. Unlike thermal laser demarcation, the cryotherapy applicatiohns need to surround the break with confluent scarring in order to adequately prophylax against retinal detachment.
