Surgical removal of subretinal hemorrhage and choroidal neovascular membranes in acute hemorrhagic age-related macular degeneration.

The visual prognosis in patients with age-related macular degeneration in whom an acute extensive subretinal hemorrhage develops involving the centre of the fovea is extremely poor. We report our results in seven consecutive patients with acute hemorrhagic age-related macular degeneration who underwent pars plana vitrectomy with internal drainage of blood lying beneath the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium. In three of the patients subretinal choroidal neovascular membranes were also removed. Five patients, including three of the four who underwent surgery within 2 weeks of the onset of symptoms, had improved vision following surgery, in one patient choroidal neovascularization recurred, and one patient experienced no change in vision. The best results were obtained in the four patients who did not undergo deliberate dissection of choroidal neovascular membranes.