Lacquer crack formation after photodynamic therapy.

PURPOSE

To report the occurrence of a lacquer crack after photodynamic therapy (PDT) of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in a patient with pathologic myopia.

METHODS

PDT was performed with verteporfin, which was activated by a diode laser light at 690 nm.

RESULTS

The left eye of a 42-year-old woman was treated with PDT because of juxtafoveal CNV caused by pathologic myopia. No lacquer crack was present in the macula on either fluorescein or indocyanine green angiography before treatment. The CNV subsided after treatment. However, a large lacquer crack underlying a subretinal hemorrhage was formatted in the macula of the treated eye soon after PDT.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the chorioretinal damage produced by PDT is minimal, it is enough to create, directly or indirectly, the basis for the formation of a lacquer crack in an eye with pathologic myopia.