Retrospective comparisons of vitrectomy with and without air tamponade to repair lamellar macular hole.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

To investigate the surgical outcomes of vitrectomy with to that without air tamponade in eyes with a lamellar macular hole.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The medical records of 23 eyes that underwent 25-gauge vitrectomy with air tamponade and 18 eyes that underwent 25-gauge vitrectomy alone were reviewed.

RESULTS

The pre- and postoperative best corrected visual acuities (BCVAs) in logarithm of the minimum angle resolution units were 0.26 ± 0.27 and 0.12 ± 0.15 in eyes with tamponade and 0.35 ± 0.30 and 0.14 ± 0.23 in eyes without tamponade. There were no significant differences in BCVAs between the two groups both pre- and postoperatively. Postoperative BCVA was significantly improved in eyes with tamponade (P = .023) and without tamponade (P < .001). None of the cases developed a full-thickness macular hole postoperatively.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that air tamponade may not be required during vitrectomy to achieve good BCVA and anatomic closure in eyes with a lamellar macular hole.