Postoperative optical coherence tomographic appearance and relation to visual acuity after vitrectomy for myopic foveoschisis.

PURPOSE

To investigate the appearance of postoperative spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and the relationship of the findings to visual acuity in myopic foveoschisis.

DESIGN

Retrospective observational case series.

METHODS

We studied 17 eyes (17 women; mean age, 66.4 years) with myopic foveoschisis. SD-OCT was performed preoperatively and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after vitrectomy. The average central foveal thickness and choroidal thickness and the integrity of the foveal photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment junction as well as the external limiting membrane were correlated with the postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA).

RESULTS

The mean refractive error was -11.9 diopters, axial length 29.7 mm, choroidal thickness 29.9 μm, and logarithm of the maximum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity 0.52 at baseline. The mean preoperative central foveal thickness was 470.8 μm, which was not associated with age, refractive error, symptom duration, or BCVA. The mean postoperative retinal thicknesses at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months were 310.4, 251.8, 218.2, and 218.7 μm, respectively (P < 0.01 at all time points). The final BCVA improved significantly (P < 0.001). The preoperative BCVA (P < 0.0001) difference in central foveal thickness between 3 and 12 months postoperatively (P < 0.05), the final integrity of the inner segment/outer segment junction (P < 0.05), and the ELM (P < 0.05) were significantly associated with the final BCVA. The preoperative choroidal thickness was negatively associated with axial length (P < 0.05) but not with postoperative central foveal thickness or BCVA.

CONCLUSIONS

The final BCVA in myopic foveoschisis is associated with the retinal thickness changes postoperatively and recovery of the photoreceptor cells as seen in OCT images.