Scleral buckle shifting

8 years ago i had a scleral Buckle placed in my left eye due to a detachment after an injury.
now there is a lump pertruding from the eye and is aprox a half inch long and kind of mis shaped.
I went to an er yesterday because of the pain it is causing and I was told that the buckle has shifted
and it looks like it is breaking down. my question is if the buckle has not yet punctured the sclera should it be removed? and what risks are involved if left untreated?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You need to see a retinal MD to see what the problem is. In the buckle and sutures and sleeves are called "hardware" sometimes they need to be removed, sometimes suture ends need to be cut. There are risks of removing including infection, bleed, redetachment, double vision. Sometimes the buckle is cutting into the eye (intrusion) and they its important to remove.

Find an eye MD retina ophthalmologist near you at www.aao.org

JCH MD