Life Healthcare is a leading private hospital operator in South Africa and primarily serves the market for privately insured individuals, representing approximately eight million people. The group provides mainly acute care, high technology private hospital services.
Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital is a large Provincial government funded hospital situated in central Mthatha in South Africa. It is a tertiary teaching hospital and forms part of the Mthatha Hospital Complex.
The extensive hospital network includes 64 hospitals (of which 57 are majority owned by Life Healthcare and another seven in which the group holds substantial minority ownership), providing a range of healthcare services throughout South Africa.
What is Pneumatic Retinopexy?
Pneumatic retinopexy is a procedure to repair several kinds of retinal detachments.
How is the Surgery Performed?
Gas bubble is injected into the center of the eyeball.
The patient’s head is positioned in a way to enable the gas bubble to float to the area that is detached, and it fixes against the detachment.
Fluid is pumped out from the underneath the flattened retina.
A freezing probe known as cryopexy or laser probe known as photocoagulation is used to seal the retinal opening.
The bubble helps the retina to flatten for one to three weeks, after which a seal is formed between the retina and the eye wall.
The gas bubble is gradually absorbed by the eye.
Pneumatic retinopexy can also be done using a large silicone oil bubble instead of a gas bubble. Since the silicon oil is not absorbed, after the detachment of the retina is healed a procedure is used to remove the oil.
About Pneumatic Retinopexy
Key facts to plan your treatment: how long it takes, your hospital stay, anaesthesia, risks and recovery.
Days admitted
The procedure is usually done as an outpatient procedure.
Anesthesia
Local anesthesia
Recovery
The patient will take about 3 weeks to recover.
Risks
- Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), i.e. retina scarring that may cause retinal detachment again.
- New breaks and tears
- More surgeries may be required to reattach the retina.
- The fluid under the retina may persist and take a lot of time to be absorbed.
- Small bubbles may be trapped beneath the retina.
Other rare complications include:
- Macula detachment affecting central vision
- Choroid detachment
- A rise in pressure inside the eye
- Vitreous hemorrhage
- Subretinal hemorrhage
After care
- For 1 to 3 weeks after the procedure, the patient must keep the head and eye positioned properly for 16 to 21 hours a day.
- The patient should avoid lying back to prevent the bubble from moving to the front of the eye and pressing against the lens.
- Airplane travel should be strictly avoided as the gas bubble may expand and the pressure inside the eye may increase.
The doctor should be informed if the following symptoms occur:
- Rise in pain and redness
- Diminishing vision
- Swelling around the eye
- Discharge from the eye
- Any vision problems
Hospital Group
Hospital Group
Private Hospital
Private Hospital