Management of macular holes that develop after retinal detachment repair.

Purpose: To study the characteristics and management of macular holes that develop after prior rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) repair.

Design: Retrospective, interventional, consecutive case series.

Methods: The setting was a clinical practice. The case records of all of our patients (n = 12) who developed a new full-thickness macular hole after prior RD repair over an 8-year period were examined. Patients who developed a macular hole after prior RD repair were offered either surgical repair of the macular hole or continued observation. For eyes that underwent macular hole repair, main outcome measures included macular attachment status and postoperative visual acuity.

Results: Twelve full-thickness macular holes were detected in a series of 2,380 eyes (0.5% prevalence), which had undergone surgery for prior primary RD. Ten macular holes developed after scleral buckling surgery, two after pneumatic retinopexy, and none were seen after primary vitrectomy. The fovea had been detached in 11 of the 12 eyes at the time of RD. The median time to macular hole diagnosis after RD repair was 3.4 months (range, 0.3-161 months). Eight of the eight eyes (100%) undergoing surgical repair achieved macular reattachment with a median of 3.5 lines of visual improvement at a median of 14.8 months of follow-up. Seven of these eight eyes had an improvement in visual acuity of at least 3 Snellen lines, and four of the eight had at least 20/40 visual acuity postoperatively. Four eyes with macular holes were observed.

Conclusions: Macular holes developed in less than 1% of eyes that had previously undergone repair of rhegmatogenous RD. In our series, these atypical holes were seen predominantly after macula-off detachments, most commonly occurring after scleral buckling procedures. They were effectively repaired using conventional pars plana vitrectomy with long-acting gas tamponade and a variety of adjuvant therapies. A good visual outcome is possible with this approach.