Intraocular endoscopy for the evaluation and treatment of hypotony due to a traumatic cyclodialysis: a case report

BACKGROUND: A cyclodialysis cleft often leads to direct communication between the anterior chamber and the suprachoroidal space. It is a rare condition that is encountered with blunt trauma, and less commonly, after surgery. Hypotony is the major sequelae that may lead to hypotonous maculopathy, optic disc edema, corneal folds, and astigmatism. These may cumulatively lead to visual loss. We describe how endoscopy in a cyclodialysis repair allowed us to accurately locate the cleft and guided its appropriate management avoiding unnecessary cryopexy. CASE PRESENTATION: A 41-year-old male experienced a traumatic cyclodialysis cleft, which resulted in persistent hypotony. Pars plana vitrectomy was performed to treat vitreous hemorrhage. Scleral indentation was attempted to visualize the cyclodialysis cleft. However, the depression distorted the visualization. Intraocular endoscopy was therefore used to evaluate the cleft. Guided by this assessment, only intraocular gas tamponade was used to reposition the ciliary body. The patient’s intraocular pressure was restored to 13 mmHg 3 days after the operation, and OCT confirmed cleft closure 1 month after the operation. CONCLUSION: Endoscopy-assisted repair of cyclodialysis is an approach that enhances visualization and can guard against common causes of persistent cleft and hypotony, as well as reveal the causes of recurrent failure. Hence, it can eliminate unnecessary cryopexy that might worsen the hypotonous state. In our case, intraocular endoscopy was effective for the evaluation of a cyclodialysis cleft and the subsequent selection of an appropriate management technique, gas tamponade, that was more conservative than other approaches initially considered.