NONVITRECTOMIZING VITREOUS SURGERY IN PATIENTS WITH MACULAR HOLES.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling combined with gas tamponade in nonvitrectomizing vitreous surgery (NVS) for macular holes (MHs).

METHODS

A total of 21 patients (21 eyes) with MHs who underwent NVS with ILM peeling and a small C3F8 gas bubble tamponade and completed at least 6 months of follow-up were included. The status of hole closure and visual acuity change were evaluated.

RESULTS

There were two secondary MHs and 19 idiopathic MHs with the mean minimal diameter of 309.47 ± 165.71 µ m at baseline. Hole closure was achieved in 19 (90.47%) eyes after the primary operation. The best-corrected visual acuity was improved from preoperative 20/400-20/28 (0.74 ± 0.29 logMAR) to postoperative 20/166-20/22 (0.32 ± 0.22 logMAR) ( P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The procedure of NVS with ILM peeling combined with short-term gas tamponade can promote closure of small- to medium-sized MHs. This simplified surgical approach relieves the tangential force coming from the ILM and releases the vitreous adhesion from the macular surface while preserving the vitreous cortex.