scleral buckles

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boote_j@msn.com - 27 Dec 2005 06:13 GMT

One upon a time I had a scleral buckle.
As part of that I had a mira-gel sponge placed in the eye.
A year or so ago I had it taken out as it had expanded to 4 times it's
original size.
Kind of messed up my vision, taking it out was not fun and I'm still
living with the results, not good.
I've searcehd the web quite a bit, been to the FDA, and other web
sites.
Found a bit, I think Dow Corning made the stuff, sold it to a company
called Mira? maybe others.
Though there seem to be two Mira's, one went bankrupt around 1995.

My Dr thought the stuff had been recalled around 1995 however I found
no FDA recalls.
I was wondering if anyone else out there has heard about others who
have had problems or heard about this?
People who might have had this might want to investigate this if they
had a buckle with a sponge before the possible recall. I never got a
recall notice did anyone?

Thanks
J.

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David Robins, MD - 27 Dec 2005 07:57 GMT

Mira-Gel sponges were popularized by the Boston retinal group. Was a
hydrophilic silicone material, meaning it had a water content. Purported
advantages over the silicone rubber band was since it was softer, it was
kinder to the eye.

Popular in the late 80's, early 90's. Noted to have a problem sometime in
the mid-90's. I was found to degenerate after about 10 years in some people.
It would swell and take up a lot of space. Since it was under the eye
muscles, it would cause double vision and sometimes limitation of eye
movement.

I saw two patients who had this implanted around 1990. Both presented with
double vision. Taking it out with a retinal surgeon was tedious; it crumbled
and disintegrated as it was removed, and took a long time. Both regained
pretty much normal eye movements. The longer the eye movement problem lasts,
it seems to take longer recovering single vision.

I'm not sure if it was officially "recalled". No one would take it out if it
was not causing a problem. I believe the Mira company still exists - I think
they still make regular silicone rubber bands and exoplants for retinal
detachment surgery.

PS: I have an unused Mira-Gel implant in my office, and in vitro, it hasn't
changed. Deterioration seems to have something to do with bein in the body,
and only in some people. This was reported in the ophthalmology journals a
number of time. I participated in a report of a number of cases, published a
few years ago.

On 12/26/05 10:13 PM, in article
1135663994.953259.74150@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, "boote_j@msn.com"

> One upon a time I had a scleral buckle.
> As part of that I had a mira-gel sponge placed in the eye.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Thanks
> J.

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Dan Abel - 27 Dec 2005 08:49 GMT

> Mira-Gel sponges were popularized by the Boston retinal group. Was a
> hydrophilic silicone material, meaning it had a water content. Purported
> advantages over the silicone rubber band was since it was softer, it was
> kinder to the eye.

> On 12/26/05 10:13 PM, in article
> 1135663994.953259.74150@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, "boote_j@msn.com"
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> > A year or so ago I had it taken out as it had expanded to 4 times it's
> > original size.

These posts aren't perfectly clear. Did these get replaced or just
removed?

I have a buckle in my right eye. The doctor didn't want to put a buckle
in my left eye since I was 20/20 and she didn't want to mess with that.

Signature

Dan Abel
dabel@sonic.net
Petaluma, California, USA

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boote_j@msn.com - 28 Dec 2005 05:35 GMT

Mine was removed because it was distorting my vision. Then of course
there was the pain, I don't know if the pain I felt all those years was
it slowing expanding but it makes me wonder.
Now It's been just about 3 years since it was removed, my Dr told it
might take awhile to recover, hmm. So, many trys at various
prescriptions, glasses , contacts, later, many, many headaches, still
can't see as well as I used to even when the buckle was in. Now I'm
having the peculiar symptom of the flashing lights following the scar
tissue where they removed the buckle.
As to relacement, they did not replace it with anything as I believe
the distortion of the retina was to messed up and they didn't want to
take a chance on making it worse.
My Buckle was a #946 Mira-Gel Sponge used to cover the upper quadrant,
(I have my Dr's notes).
Wonder whihc Mira company made it?

Boote_j

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Dan Abel - 27 Dec 2005 08:15 GMT

> One upon a time I had a scleral buckle.

I still have one. It wasn't fun and my vision in that eye isn't good.

> As part of that I had a mira-gel sponge placed in the eye.

Never heard of these. Sounds like I'm lucky.

:-(

Signature

Dan Abel
dabel@sonic.net
Petaluma, California, USA

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