Early spontaneous closure after reopening of a previously repaired macular hole

Retin Cases Brief Rep. 2013 Spring;7(2):140-2. doi: 10.1097/ICB.0b013e31826f08d7.

Abstract

Purpose: To describe a case of early spontaneous closure of macular hole after reopening after previous successful surgical repair.

Methods: A 72-year-old female patient was treated for stage 2 idiopathic macular hole in the right eye. The hole remained anatomically closed for 2 months postoperatively, before reopening 1 month later.

Results: The patient was listed for revision surgery; however, on the day of the operation, which was 2 months after the reopening, the hole seemed to have closed spontaneously. Two years later, the macular hole remains closed with best-corrected visual acuity of 6/9.

Conclusion: Spontaneous closure of macular holes after reopening is a rare phenomenon. The case presented here demonstrates that for early reopening of macular holes, a period of observation with serial optical coherence tomography may allow the hole to close spontaneously before proceeding with further surgical intervention.