Subfoveal Deposits Secondary to Idiopathic Epiretinal Membranes

Abstract

To describe the subfoveal deposits secondary to idiopathic epiretinal membranes (ERMs) and to assess their effect on the preoperative and postoperative course. Retrospective, observational case series. One hundred patients operated on consecutively for idiopathic ERMs in a single center. The files of 100 consecutive patients operated on for idiopathic ERMs were reviewed by 2 independent investigators. Fellow eyes were used as matched controls. Patients with an ERM in the contralateral eye were excluded, as well as those with no available fundus photographs or optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans. In all, 87 eyes were included in the study. Comparison of subfoveal deposit frequency in eyes with an ERM and their fellow eyes, as shown by Stratus OCT scans and fundus photographs, and preoperative and postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (VA) in eyes with an ERM. A subfoveal deposit was found on both preoperative fundus photographs and OCT scans in 15 eyes with an ERM (17.2%) versus 5 (5.7%) in control fellow eyes (P = 0.0303). The group of patients with a subfoveal deposit was 5.3 years older, on average, than the group without (P = 0.0206). Time of onset of ERMs and macular thickness were not different between the 2 groups (P = 0.5663 and P = 0.7488, respectively). There was no significant difference regarding gender ratio or mean preoperative and postoperative VA (P = 0.9498 and P = 0.9902, respectively). In this series, subfoveal deposits seemed to be associated with the presence of ERMs. Interestingly, they did not preclude good postoperative VA. The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.