Incidence of Outer Foveal Defect After Macular Hole Surgery

PurposeTo determine the incidence of outer foveal defects after macular hole surgery and to evaluate the relationship between the defect and visual outcome.DesignRetrospective, observational case series.MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed on 50 eyes from 50 patients who underwent macular hole surgery with a follow-up period of 12 months or more. We evaluated the presence of outer foveal defects using time-domain optical coherence tomography and best-corrected visual acuity at several postoperative time points. The main outcome measures are the incidence of an outer foveal defect and the best-corrected visual acuity.ResultsThe incidence of an outer foveal defect at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery was 49%, 50%, 47%, and 31%, respectively. There were no statistical differences in the postoperative visual acuity between eyes with and without an outer foveal defect at each postoperative time point.ConclusionsOuter foveal defects after successful macular hole surgery were observed in approximately half of the eyes during the early postoperative period and one third of the eyes at 12 months postoperatively, suggesting that it takes longer than expected to recover the normal foveal anatomy after surgery. The presence of outer foveal defects did not significantly correlate with the visual outcome.