[A complication in gas surgery: injection of gas beneath the retina in a pseudophakic eye].

Report on an inadvertent injection of gas beneath the retina in a pseudophakic eye. The gas was injected through the pupil to tamponade a retinal break. Instead, however, it found its way under the retina, increasing the extent of the detachment. A thick, transparent membrane posterior to the intraocular lens prevented the gas from entering the vitreous space and diverted it laterally behind the iris to the ciliary body, where it penetrated between layers of the ciliary epithelium and entered the subretinal space. The gas became visible under the retina. The bullous redetachment had a mother-of-pearl-like opalescence characteristic of gas beneath the retina.