Descemet's membrane detachment following uneventful phacoemulsification surgeries: A case report

RATIONALE: Descemet's membrane detachment (DMD) may occur during or following cataract surgery, causing corneal edema and visual loss1. The incidence of DMD after phacoemulsification surgery is only approximately 0.5%, and mostly surgical-related. Late onset bilateral spontaneous DMD after sequential uneventful cataract surgeries, is even rarer, and may result from not only surgery itself, but also from an underlying anatomic abnormality 2. PATIENT CONCERNS: We present a 80 year old female developed bilateral descemet's membrane detachment after sequential uncomplicated cataract surgeries. DIAGNOSIS: Bilateral Descemet's membrane detachment. INTERVENTIONS: One eye (left eye) was treated with intracameral air injection and the fellow eye (right eye) was treated with medical treatment only. OUTCOMES: The DMDs were reattached in both eyes after treatment. Surgical intervention accelerated the duration of recovery and there were no significant outcome differences between the right and the left eye. LESSONS: Even if there is a large area of DMD with visual axis involvement, conservative treatment with close observation might still provide a satisfactory result if Descemet's membrane is separated from the posterior corneal stroma by ≤1 mm.