title: Vitreous wick syndrome following a corneal relaxing incision.
abstract: A 55-year-old white female underwent a 7.5 mm penetrating keratoplasty for stromal scarring secondary to herpex simplex keratitis. Postoperatively, stromal vascularization and a prolonged graft rejection forced premature suture removal and a prolonged course of topical and systemic glucocorticoids. A mild anterior wound gape spontaneously closed with reduction of steroid therapy. Eighteen months after the original surgery, the patient underwent a relaxing corneal incision to correct 12 diopters of corneal astigmatism. During an inferior incision a small microperforation was noted and the procedure was terminated. Eleven days after the relaxing incision, the patient returned with a "vitreous wick" syndrome through the superior incision. The wound dehiscence and vitreous wick were repaired without incident and the astigmatism was reduced to 7 diopters. Incisions more than 3/4 depth in aphakic patients, or in patients who have required intense steroid therapy should be monitored closely for several days after surgery for microperforations or a wound dehiscence which may lead to a "vitreous wick" syndrome.
mesh_terms: D001251:Astigmatism / Q000628:therapy; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D003315:Cornea / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007635:Keratitis, Dendritic / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery; D011391:Prolapse; D013577:Syndrome; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000473:pathology*