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.