Scleral buckling for retinal separation: with and without encirclement.

Two similar patient populations with previously unoperated, atraumatic, rhegmatogenous retinal separations were surgically treated using the same technique with encircling elements in one series (290 eyes) and without encircling elements in the other (463 eyes). Nine percent of the encircled group remained detached compared with 7.6% in the other group. The reason for ultimate surgical failure in both groups was proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Encirclement offered no advantage with respect to surgical success.