Condensation Evacuator for Noncontact Retina Surgery

Fogging of the non-contact wide-angle viewing system lens is a common occurrence during vitrectomy. In this video, Drs. Riley Sanders and Sami Uwaydat demonstrate a technique to prevent condensation from forming on the lens. The tip of a 14FR red latex urethral catheter is trimmed, leaving a rectangular opening on one side of the catheter. After proper draping of the surgical eye, the tip is taped to the surgical drape as close to the medial canthus as possible, using Steri-Strip skin adhesives. The other end of the catheter is connected with tubing to a wall suction outlet. The vacuum generated at the tip of the catheter in the medial canthal area removes the moisture generated by the ocular surface, and prevents the buildup of condensation on the viewing lens, without interfering with the movement of the lens. The technique described is simple, affordable and can be used with any available noncontact viewing systems [e.g., BIOM (Oculus); Merlin (Volk Optical); OFFISS (Topcon); Resight (Carl Zeiss Meditec) and Leyman-Wessels-Landers (Ocular Instruments)].

Relevant Financial Disclosures: None