The hydrogel implant for scleral buckling, first developed in 1980, is said to combine the advantages of both solid silicone rubber and silicone sponges. But it is still not widely used. Our clinical experience with the hydrogel implant used in 23 cases of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment is described. It was used both as exoplant and implant. Anatomical success was achieved in 91% of the cases. There was no infection, erosion, migration of extrusion of the buckle. The advantages are that it is soft, elastic, nontoxic, and nonpyogenic; it is devoid of infection and postoperatively it swells up, for additional heightening of the buckle. This new material appears to combine the advantages of both silicone sponge and solid silicon rubber thereby providing an ideal buckling material.

Estimation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes in the serum and aqueous humor was carried out in 15 cases of benign ocular tumour, 15 cases of malignant tumor and 15 normal cases. Cases of both sexes aged between 1 year and 75 years were included. LDH, isoenzymes specially LDH4 and LDH5 are higher and LDH1 and LDH2 lower in sera of patients with malignant tumor specially retinoblastoma as compared to benign tumor cases and control cases. LDH isoenzymes in aqueous humor are significantly higher and show a characteristic pattern in retinoblastoma cases, the concentration was presumably too low in the control, malignant tumor other than retinoblastoma and benign tumor cases as its fractionation was not possible.

A prospective trial was conducted on 142 patients who underwent cataract surgery, to compare the efficacy of a single point, low volume peribulbar with that of retrobulbar anaesthesia. It was found that peribulbar anaesthesia is as efficacious as retrobulbar anaesthesia without the associated complications. It also avoids the facial block used by most ophthalmologists to supplement a retrobulbar block, thus markedly reducing the post-operative patient discomfort as well as the total volume of anaesthetic used.

The aim of this study was to determine the range of ametropias encountered by using the computerized Ophthasonic A-Scan. The SRK formula was used to compute the IOL power using axial length and keratometry as inputs. The accuracy of prediction of IOL power was calculated by noting the disparity between the expected post-operative refraction and the actual refraction obtained after one and a half months of IOL implantation. The results obtained were encouraging; the maximum deviation from the expected result being +/- 3.2 D.

A prospective randomized clinical trial was carried out to compare the intercapsular or the endocapsular technique of IOL insertion and conventional posterior chamber IOL insertion after can opener capsulotomy. Age and sex matched groups of 76 patients each underwent surgery by the two techniques. The corneal and the uveal reaction was evaluated on the first day after the surgery and specular counts were done at six weeks. Though the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant, a trend in favour of intercapsular technique emerged strongly.

One hundred consecutive cases of dry eye were studied to comment upon its epidemiological aspects. The incidence of dry eye amongst ophthalmic outpatients was 0.46% with a male:female ratio of 1:1.22. Fifty seven percent of the patients were above 50 years of age. The incidence was higher amongst outdoor workers and people from rural areas with poor socioeconomic status. The influence of hot and dry climate and nutritional status on dry eye incidence is discussed.

Conjunctival sacs of seventy one leprosy patients, paramedical and medical personnel working in a leprosy home were cultured. None of these eyes had any pathology in the outer eye. Surprisingly, 46.2% of the eyes which showed a positive culture carried accepted pathogens; Staphylococcus aureus being the commonest. Determining the preoperative bacterial flora and their elimination before undertaking intraocular surgery is recommended.

Visual evoked responses (VER) were recorded in 10 patients with unilateral maculopathy. VER latency and amplitude were compared between the affected and unaffected eyes. Evaluation of results reveals that in macular disease with fluid accumulation (Central Serous Retinopathy and Traumatic Macular Oedema) the VER showed amplitude reduction depending on reduced visual acuity with no significant change in latency, whereas, in disease with degeneration of retinal layers, (Degenerative Maculopathy) latency was markedly increased signifying associated conduction defect.

The surgical methods for correction of an abnormal head posture in congenital nystagmus presently in use, do not correct the head posture adequately and in some cases produce a postoperative tropia. We felt that this may be related to the arbitrary quantities of surgery suggested by various workers. We have observed that surgery on the medial rectus is approximately one and a half times as effective as on the lateral. Using this ratio, excellent results have been obtained in 5 cases which are reported herein.

An interesting clinical, report of a rare case of bilateral congeni­tal corneal anaesthesia associated with Congenital Sensory Neuropathy (CSN) in a 1¹sub/2 year old child with corneal ulceration secondary to self-inflicted trauma is reported.

Four cases of malignant melanoma of the choroid are reported due to rarity of the condition in India. One of the cases presented with Naevus of Ota. All the cases had typical clinical and investigative features. All cases were enucleated. Histopathologically three of them were of mixed type and one was of the epithelioid type. Two of the cases were seen in patients below 40 years of age.

A rare case of Groenblad Strandberg syndrome in which angioid streaks are associated with pseudoxanthoma elasticum is being reported. The pathology, clinical features, complications and treatment of angioid streaks are discussed in detail.

Cavernous hemangioma of the frontal bone in a 15 year old girl which subsided after marginal resection (curettage) is prese­nted.

A child, of normal intelligence, belonging to a nonconsanguineous marriage was diagnosed as MPS type IV the so called Morquio syndrome. Despite mild corneal cloudiness no other ophthalmological abnormalities were observed. Reilly granules in the leukocytes and abnormal mucopolysaccharides in urine confirmed the diagnosis.

An unusual case of Sturge-Weber syndrome with raised intraocular pressure is presented. The slit lamp examination and anterior segment fluorescein angiography were consistent with iris neovascularization. Cause and effect relationship of iris neovascularization with glaucoma in this syndrome is discussed.