Purpose: To evaluate morphologic features and the evolution of inner retinal dimples using spectral domain optical coherence tomography after internal limiting membrane peeling.
Methods: A single-center retrospective study of spectral domain optical coherence tomography features in 43 eyes after full-thickness macular hole surgery with internal limiting membrane peeling without adjunctive internal limiting membrane staining.
Results: Postoperatively, a total of 210 dimples were noted in 37 eyes (86%), with a mean of 5.7 dimples per eye (median, 5; range, 1-20), most frequently located in the inferotemporal quadrant (n = 122, 58%, P < 0.0001). At initial detection, mean dimple dimensions were 199 μm wide (median, 183; range, 87-442 μm) and 19 μm deep (median, 17; range, 7-35 μm). During follow-up, mean maximum dimensions were 351 μm wide (median, 305; range, 219-494 μm) and 30 μm deep (median, 31; range, 15-55 μm). Dimple dimension reached a maximum at 12 months (median, 10; range, 2-22 months) followed by a modest decline. Mean preoperative and final postoperative visual acuity were 0.70 logMAR (median, 0.54; range, 0.09-1.4 logMAR) and 0.38 logMAR (median, 0.30; range, 0-1.4 logMAR), respectively.
Conclusion: Inner retinal dimples are common after adjunct-free internal limiting membrane peeling and evolve in the postoperative period with enlargement over the first 12 months followed by reduction in size, and have no apparent impact on the visual acuity.