Posterior precortical vitreous pocket.

We examined the vitreous of 84 human autopsy eyes by biomicroscopy after staining the gel component with fluorescein and immersing the specimen in water. A noteworthy finding was the presence of a posterior precortical vitreous pocket that was basically located immediately anterior to the posterior fundus surrounded by the temporal vascular arcades. The posterior wall of the posterior precortical vitreous pocket was composed of a thin layer of vitreous cortex. The anterior border was contoured by the formed vitreous. The posterior precortical vitreous pocket seemed to expand or become confluent with adjacent lacunae in the vitreous. The posterior precortical vitreous pocket was present in all of 48 eyes with no or incomplete posterior vitreous detachment and in 19 of 36 eyes with posterior vitreous detachment. An oval-shaped defect of the premacular cortical vitreous was seen in 10 of 36 eyes with posterior vitreous detachment. The posterior precortical vitreous pocket was consistently present in front of the macula regardless of the type of vitreous liquefaction.