New perspectives on macular hole surgery at three years of follow-up

ABSTRACT Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the functional and anatomical success rates as well as the safety of sutureless combined surgery involving vitreous base removal and internal limiting membrane peeling after Brilliant Blue G (0.5 mg/mL) staining for the management of idiopathic macular holes after three years. Methods: Forty-six eyes of 46 patients with an idiopathic macular hole were enrolled in this retrospective study. The inclusion criteria were macular holes with a minimum linear diameter below 1,500 mm, 0.05 or better decimal best-corrected visual acuity and duration of symptoms less than two years. The exclusion criteria included pregnancy, optic nerve atrophy, advanced glaucoma, and other chronic ocular diseases. The surgical procedure included internal limiting membrane peeling after Brilliant Blue G (0.5 mg/mL) staining, along with C3F8 tamponade and face-down positioning for three days postoperatively. Ophthalmologic examinations and optical coherence tomography were performed at 1 and 7 days and 1, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. If no anatomic closure of the macular holes occurred within the first month, the area of the internal limiting membrane peeling was enlarged in a second procedure. Multiple logistic regression and chi-squared tests were used for data analyses, and p-values of