Observations on patients with idiopathic macular holes and cysts
D. R. Guyer, S. de Bustros, M. Diener-West and S. L. Fine
Retinal Vascular Center, Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Md.
We reexamined 96 patients with macular holes or cysts. The mean follow-up
period was 4.7 years. Of 19 eyes with macular cysts, only two (10.5%)
showed progression to a macular hole. In 15 (79%) of those 19 eyes, the
cyst disappeared. Of 80 patients with a macular hole or cyst in one eye and
a normal fellow eye, a hole developed in the fellow eye in only one patient
(1.2%) and a cyst developed in the fellow eye in only two patients (2.5%).
Of 66 eyes with a stage 3 full-thickness macular hole, three eyes (5%)
showed resolution without any sign of a hole. Our results suggest a
favorable prognosis for normal fellow eyes of patients with macular holes
or cysts and for eyes with cysts. Eyes with full-thickness macular holes
have a less favorable prognosis, although their natural history may not be
as poor as previously thought.
