Treatment for many patients with a macular hole is often not necessary, since many remain asymptomatic. Surgery should be considered, however, for those people with a relatively new macular hole whose distortion, vision loss, or difficulty with depth perception make their daily activities such as reading and driving difficult. Vitrectomy surgery is done at the hospital under local anesthesia. This advanced microsurgical technique allow us to restore vision by peeling and removing the associated macular pucker from the macular surface and filling the eye with a special gas bubble. The gas bubble helps to seal and flatten the hole postoperatively.
Patients go home immediately following surgery.
There is usually minimal to no pain, except for minor irritation from sutures which absorb within a week of surgery. Patients need to look down to the floor for 2 weeks, which properly positions the gas bubble against the macular hole. Airplane flying is strictly prohibited while the bubble is present since it can expend in the de-pressurized airplane cabin causing severe pain and possible blindness. The gas bubble absorbs on its own over several months, at which point it is possible to tell whether or not the hole has flattened. Normal macular appearance following surgery.