Exudative retinal detachment following cataract surgery in Hallermann-Streiff syndrome

Purpose To report two cases of Hallermann-Streiff syndrome with exudative retinal detachment after cataract surgery. Methods Case report. Results Four eyes of two patients with Hallermann-Streiff syndrome developed exudative retinal detachments after lensectomy and anterior vitrectomy at 2 and 4 months of age. Both patients had extreme microphthalmia. The exudative retinal detachment regressed spontaneously in three of the four eyes; however, one eye required subscleral sclerectomy. In one patient, the best-corrected visual acuity was 20/200 at 3 years of age; the other patient had good fixation and following behavior in each eye at 1 year of age. Conclusions Early surgery to treat congenital cataracts in extremely microphthalmic eyes associated with the Hallermann-Streiff syndrome may induce exudative retinal detachment. However, the retinal detachments tend to regress and may not cause severe visual impairment. The authors have no proprietary interest in any aspect of this report.