Cryotherapy reduces accommodation

Eyes treated with peripheral retinal cryotherapy lose accommodative amplitude after surgery, according to results of a study published in the January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Tsuyoshi Uno of Ideta Eye Hospital, Kumamoto, Japan and colleagues examined eyes with retinal lattice degeneration (n=96) treated with cryotherapy between December 2001 and September 2004, and measured pre- and postoperative accommodative amplitudes.

Overall, researchers did not note any significant differences between pre- and postoperative accommodative amplitudes, although patients aged 10–29 years demonstrated decreased accommodative amplitudes when measured one and three weeks after treatment. Within this age bracket, this decrease was more significant in younger subjects, although, for all patients, accommodative amplitude returned to pretreatment levels by week six. The researchers also noted an association between acute loss of accommodation and cryotherapy numbers.

The researchers concluded that, although short-term losses in accommodation are possible, and more common in patients aged 10–29 years, these losses resolved within six weeks.