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To the Editor.
—I read with interest "The Removal of Scleral Buckles" by George F. Hilton and Robert H. Wallyn, which appeared in the November 1978 issue of the Archives (96:2061-2063, 1978). I came to similar conclusions regarding encircling buckles as early as 1964 (abstracted, Invest Ophthalmol 3:676,1964). A prospective study on 32 eyes operated on with an encircling silicone rod was published in the Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society (68:596, 1970). The encircling rod was interrupted an average of nine months after the operation, and the eyes were followed up for an average of 29.4 months. In only one eye, the retinal detachment recurred due to preexisting vitreous bands and was cured by reestablishing the cerclage. Experimental studies on dog eyes showed the anatomical reasons why a cerclage can be safely interrupted in most eyes after a successful reattachment. I have followed this practice since 1963.