Ocular decompression retinopathy after trabeculectomy with mitomycin-C for angle recession glaucoma

A 45-year-old male presented with intractable glaucoma following 360-degree angle recession after blunt trauma. He underwent an uncomplicated trabeculectomy with mitomycin-C (MMC). Adequate precautions were taken to reduce the chances of sudden lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP). He did not have any intraoperative shallowing of the anterior chamber or postoperative hypotony, but still developed ocular decompression retinopathy. On detailed review of the previously reported cases we discovered that besides a large IOP drop after surgery, either the preoperative rise of IOP in all these cases was over a relatively short period or the course of their glaucomatous process was likely to have exposed them to intermittent spikes of high IOP. To our knowledge this factor has not been previously postulated in the pathophysiology of ocular decompression retinopathy. We illustrate this with a rare case of ocular decompression retinopathy after trabeculectomy with MMC for post-traumatic angle recession glaucoma.