Distance and near vision changes after intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injection in eyes with center-involving diabetic macular edema.

PURPOSE: To elucidate distance and near vision changes after intravitreal injections in center-involving diabetic macular edema (CIDME) in phakic and pseudophakic groups.

METHODS

A retrospective study was done on 148 eyes (72 phakic and 76 pseudophakic) with center-involving DME. All eyes were treated with intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injection. All patients underwent distance best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) testing, near BCVA testing, dilated fundus examination, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) at baseline and follow-up visits. Eyes that could not improve after the first injection were given 2nd, 3rd, and more injections in the subsequent visits.

RESULTS

On follow-up, post injections in the phakic group (n = 72), there were 65 eyes (90.3%) with stable/improved near vision and 59 eyes (81.9%) with stable/improved distance vision, whereas in the pseudophakic group (n = 76), 63 eyes (82.9%) and 60 eyes (78.9%), respectively. Both in phakic and pseudophakic eyes, 7.7%-13% of the cohort showed only near vision improvement.

CONCLUSION

In DME, besides the changes in distance vision, there are also changes in near vision. These changes should be taken into account while determining the response to anti-VEGF in DME treatment.