Memu Bar Macula Surgery MD Macula Disease
vision
"Here, at whatever hour you come, you will find light and hope and human kindness"
Retina Specialists of Alabama LLC

macula

FIGURE 1 THE HUMAN EYE WITH MACULAR CENTER OF VISION MARKED BY ARROW ADJACENT TO THE OPTIC NERVE.

macular membrane

FIGURE 2 (A) ABNORMAL GLIAL CELL MEMBRANES (G) ATTACHED TO THE MACULAR SURFACE (I = ILM) BEFORE CONTRACTION (R = RETINA). ANALOGOUS TO A LINE OF MEN HOLDING A ROPE (B).

mauclar pucker

FIGURE 3 ( C) EMP AFTER CONTRACTION TO PRODUCE MACULAR PUCKER. ANALOGOUS TO A LINE OF MEN SHORTENING A ROPE (D).

EMP

FIGURES 4 & 5 CURRENT FORCEPS TECHNIQUE OF REMOVING EMP / ILM BY RECURRENT GRASPING AND PEELING.

 

 

NEI National Eye Institute
Resource Guide
for Macular Pucker

 
To Questions & Answers 1, 3

Patient Questions about Macula Surgery; 
Page 2

How long does the macula surgery take?
The entire operation, including vitrectomy to reach the back of the eye, typically requires 30 minutes to one hour. The critical portion of the operation at the macula currently takes 10-15 minutes on average.

How often do macular traction conditions require surgery? What happens if it goes untreated?
An estimated 2.25 million people in the United States alone have some detectable scarring on the macular surface. Between 25,000 and 40,000 people annually undergo an operation to treat macular pucker or macular hole associated with surface traction.

Macular pucker can be gradually or rapidly progressive. At its worst, the eye becomes legally blind so that the affected eye cannot read, recognize faces, or allow safe driving. Both eyes are affected in 30% of cases. As a rule of thumb, approximately half of lost vision is reversible with surgery. For example, if the patient loses eight lines of visual acuity on the eye chart, four lines of visual loss remain after using the current surgical technique. Macular holes almost always result in permanent legal blindness to the affected eye unless treated.

What are the short and long term consequences of removing EMP and the ILM?
EMP has been removed for over 20 years with no undesirable consequences, so long as mechanical or light damage to the retina during surgery does not occur.

During the 1980's, Morris, Kuhn and Witherspoon studied a group of patients with a rare disease called Terson's syndrome, in which hemorrhage and associated blood pressure lifted the ILM off of the macula. After they removed the spontaneously elevated tissue from the eye using forceps, these eyes functioned well with stable, excellent vision during long-term follow-up (Morris, RE, Witherspoon, CD, Kuhn F., Hemorrhagic Macular Cysts. Ophthalmology, 1994; 101:1).

Forceps removal of the ILM for macular hole surgery has been performed on thousands of eyes by many surgeons since 1994.

Medical information provided in this site is intended to assist you in understanding a complex ocular condition. It can not replace the judgment and skill of your personal doctor.

Patient Info|Fellowship Program |MaculaSurgery|
RSA Research|RSA Physicians|RSA Location|Resources

Contact us at 205-933-2625 or 800-292-8166
Webmaster
rev.Oct 2008

Privacy Practices

This Site Contains Copyrighted Text And Graphics © Copyright 2000 Retina Specialists of Alabama, LLC
Illustrations - © Steve Gordon