Contact Ultrasonography and Hypotonous Eyes-Reply

In Reply. —We appreciate the interesting comments made by Snyder et al regarding our report. The purpose of it was twofold. First, the source of a suprachoroidal hemorrhage had, to our knowledge, never been documented. The occurrence of hemorrhage during an ultrasonographic examination allowed us to visualize and document what appeared to be an arterial source for this infrequent postoperative complication. Second, we raised the possibility that the examination may have contributed to the development of the hemorrhage. Although hypotony is often present in eyes that develop suprachoroidal hemorrhages, additional risk factors, such as ocular trauma and inflammation, are probably necessary before a bleed occurs. 1 It also appears that eyes with glaucoma, 2 high myopia, 3 and aphakia, 4 as well as those eyes that have undergone vitrectomy, are much more prone to suprachoroidal hemorrhaging. In susceptible eyes, minor trauma (globe indentation) or elevations of central venous pressure may