This is a very interesting letter to the editor that our friend Venkatakrishnan V. Jaichandran from Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai published recently in the Oman Journal Opthalmology.
He aptly demonstrates how the knowledge and skill of retrobulbar blocks-deemed obsolete by many- could help free a patient from excrutiating pains after enuclation.
Phantom eye syndrom afflicts roughly a third of all patients having a painful, blind eye enucleated. This dramatic surgical measure is chosen for oncological reasons-uveal melanoma or retinoblastoma or as a last resort after eye infections and corneal defects.
Dr. Jaichandran is extremely experienced with ORA so he instinctively knew where to place his needle. The rest of us would be keenly interested ultra-sound guidance towards nerve-stumps or ganglia.
1) Hope-Stone L.Ophthalmology. 2015 Aug;122(8):1585-90
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