Purpose: To describe the vitreomacular interface and foveal structural changes in fellow eyes of patients with idiopathic macular holes using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Methods: Retrospective analysis of consecutive medical records and SD-OCT images of the fellow eyes of patients with macular hole was done. Changes of the vitreoretinal interface and foveal structures on SD-OCT scan of the 101 fellow eyes of 101 subjects with full-thickness macular hole were studied and compared with 101 eyes of 101 age-matched healthy subjects.
Results: Sixty-four patients (57.65%) were female. Mean age at presentation was 60.44 ± 12.17 years. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in eyes with macular hole was 0.86 logMAR units and in fellow eyes was 0.41 logMAR units. Seven eyes had macular hole in the fellow eye at the time of presentation. The majority of the fellow eyes (87/101, 78.37%) were phakic. The average base diameter of macular hole was 1105 ± 451.63 µm. Incidence of vitreomacular traction, epiretinal membrane, lamellar hole, and inner foveal split was more common (<0.05) in fellow eyes in comparison to healthy eyes. In contrast, posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) and perifoveal PVD was more common in age-matched control eyes. There was no statistically significant correlation between foveal abnormalities of fellow eyes with base diameter of eyes with macular hole, BCVA, and duration of symptoms.
Conclusions: Fellow eyes of patients with idiopathic macular hole have a high frequency of abnormal vitreoretinal interface and foveal abnormalities, which predisposes to formation of macular hole.