Lamellar macular hole formation in patients with diabetic cystoid macular edema.
OBJECTIVE
To report lamellar macular hole formation in four patients with diabetic cystoid macular edema (CME).


METHODS
A review of the medical records of four patients with diabetic CME in whom lamellar macular hole formation was observed. The morphologic changes of CME, seen using optical coherence tomography (OCT), and best-corrected visual acuity were evaluated.


RESULTS
Lamellar macular hole formation had occurred, as determined by slit-lamp biomicroscopy and OCT. Although the inner retinal layer had disappeared, the outer retinal layer was preserved. On OCT, the reflective line of an epiretinal membrane or a posterior hyaloid membrane was seen on the surface of juxtafoveal retina, and visual acuity remained unchanged in all four patients.


CONCLUSIONS
In diabetic patients with CME, the CME occasionally changes spontaneously to a lamellar macular hole. Although the central cystoid space disappears and foveal thickness decreases after this transformation, visual acuity may be little affected as long as the structure of the outer retina remains intact.
Unoki
Noriyuki
N
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Nishijima
Kazuaki
K
Kita
Mihori
M
Oh
Hideyasu
H
Sakamoto
Atsushi
A
Kameda
Takanori
T
Hayashi
Hisako
H
Yoshimura
Nagahisa
N
D000368:Aged; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D055096:Optical Devices; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014792:Visual Acuity