title: An Update on the Diagnosis and Management of Central Serous Chorioretinopathy.
abstract: Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is a complicated disease with still unclear causes, pathogenesis and management strategy despite active research. CSC has been traditionally considered as a self-limiting disease where spontaneous recovery occurs in 90% of the patients within a few months. This proclaimed "benign" nature of CSC, however, has been queried by increasing scientific evidence that permanent photoreceptors damage and neurosensory-cystoid degeneration of macula occur in the event of chronic CSC. CSC is probably not a benign disease. Treatments for CSC are still evolving. It is very difficult to define the proper timing for active treatment of CSC because it is not easy to define a universally accepted cut-off time point for active intervention. There is a recent suggestion that active CSC treatment should be considered if symptoms last longer than 3 months as atrophy of photoreceptors may occur as early as 4 months after initial presentation. The CSC patients may be stratified into two groups based on the initial presenting visual acuity and duration of symptom: the good visual prognosis group and the dubious visual prognosis group. The management may then be tailor-made based on the visual prognosis group. "Safety-enhanced'" photodynamic therapy (PDT) using lower doses and reduced fluence is still the mainstay of treatment. Newer treatment modalities like intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy, micropulsed diode laser treatment, and the use of corticosteroid antagonists do warrant further investigation. Combination therapies involving two or more of the above modalities of treatments may have a role to play in this actively researched area.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; †Hong Kong Eye Hospital; ‡Dennis Lam & Partners Eye Center, Hong Kong; and §Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Fok
authors.forename: Dennis S C
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lam