Retinal pigment epithelial tear after intravitreal ranibizumab

PURPOSE: To report two cases of a retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) tear after intravitreal injection of 0.05 mg ranibizumab. DESIGN: Observational case report. METHODS: Two patients with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) resulting from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were treated with an intravitreal injection of ranibizumab. RESULTS: Both patients were found to have a RPE tear on follow-up visits at one month, confirmed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and by fluorescein or indocyanine green angiography. CONCLUSIONS: RPE tears may occur after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab. Further study is needed to determine whether CNV membranes associated with pigment epithelial detachments (PED) are more likely to develop RPE tears after treatment with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents.