Macular hole surgery in high myopia

Purpose: To evaluate the anatomic and functional outcomes of macular hole surgery in high myopia and to determine whether surgery is beneficial in myopic eyes with macular holes. Design: Retrospective noncomparative case series. Participants: Twenty eyes of 18 highly myopic subjects who underwent pars plana vitrectomy for macular holes. Methods: We analyzed demographics, preoperative, and postoperative characteristics in 20 eyes with macular holes with a mean of 10.4 months duration and myopia of 6 diopters or greater. Main Outcome Measures: Macular hole closure rate and mean visual acuity preoperatively and postoperatively. Results: Mean subject age was 56.4 years and preoperative visual acuity was 20/100+2. The macular hole was closed with one surgery in 60.0% of eyes and in 85.0% of eyes with one or more surgeries. The mean final acuity in all eyes was 20/63, and 40.0% improved greater than three Snellen lines at the final visit. The use of adjunctive agents seemed to have no effect on macular hole closure or visual acuity. A subgroup of three myopic eyes with retinal detachments surrounding the macular hole had successful closure with visual acuity improvement in two of three eyes. Conclusions: Macular hole surgery can give substantial visual improvement in myopic eyes with macular holes, but the anatomic closure rates are lower than in eyes with idiopathic macular holes, and thus a higher reoperation rate is required. Ophthalmology 2001;108:377-380 (C) 2001 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.