Surgery of idiopathic epiretinal membranes: anatomical and functional results.

Purpose Surgery has been successful in removing epiretinal membranes from the macula allowing some improvement in vision in 80 to 90 % of patients, however complications are relatively frequent. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the rate of peri- and postoperative complications and their influence on functional outcome of eyes having been operated for idiopathic epiretinal membranes. Material and methods Preoperative findings, intraoperative and postoperative complications as well as outcome in 40 consecutive cases of idiopathic epiretinal membranes operated by the same retina surgeon were analyzed. Results In all cases the epiretinal membranes were successfully removed from the fovea. The mean visual acuity increased from 0.36 +/- 0.2 to 0.54 +/- 0.3, (p < 0.05) postoperatively. Peroperative complications included intraoperative hemorrhage (18 %) and retinal tears (10 %). Postoperatively progressive nuclear sclerosis was observed in 75 % of the cases and retinal tears causing detachments in 10 %. Conclusions Performing surgery for ERMs is worthwhile on eyes with major decreased visual acuity (< 0.25) as on eyes with metamorphopsia but only moderately reduced vision. Postoperative complications are frequent but can usually be managed successfully. Of them only retinal detachment involving the macula is of worse prognosis on the final functional outcome.