Macular Hole

[Truby1224]

How successful is macular hole surgery?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

It depends on the characteristics of the macular hole, the overall health of the eye, the skill of the surgeon, the ability of the patient to lie facedown and other factors.  I tell patients that the vison will never be returned to normal and may only get some better and sometimes not much better at all.  It is very unusual for it to get worse.  The main thing is to understand that the retinal surgeon will be trying to try to flatten out the macula and make the hole smaller but it will never, ever, be like new again. I would consider 20/50 or 20/60 vision to be a very, very good result, in my opinion.  I tell people it is like dropping a Ming vase on the ground and then glueing it back together. It might even look pretty good but will never be the same again and in this case it has to form an umbelievable complex biologic functions.  In the end, I usually recommend the surgery to my patients if they can do the positioning post-op.  Many tell me they just can do it and will not have the surgery.

MJK MD

[Louise414]

I had the surgery a year and a half ago.  I would have  to say it was worth it, but I have had a long recovery.  The surgery fixed the hole, but I developed a cataract as a side effect of it.  Last summer I had surgery for the cataract.  After that my vision was much better -- but then it deteriorated, because of a film that developed under the implanted lens,  I recently had a laser procedure called a "capsulotomy" to correct that problem.  My vision is now pretty good, but not quite what it was before the hole developed.  I just saw my ophthalmologist last week.  My next appointment isn't until a year from now, so it sounds like it is finally "cured."

[jpc1559]

My wife had the surgery last April and she has recovered well from the procedure .. Her vision is fine but she has lost some perepheral sp. vision....The most important and most difficult part of recovery is maintaing a head down position until the Dr says to stop...it is extremely important to maintain about a 90% down including sleep...We rented equipment to assist in this regimen and my wife did so for 3 weeks...Periodic visits to the Dr revealed how the hole closure progressed..Also the initial size of the hole is an important factor in closure rates and vision post op...My wife had a 350/400 micron size hole..Hope this helps..

[jpc1559]

And my wife is now a  candidate for the cataract surgery..whice is apparently brought on by the head down positioning,  as the Retinal Surgeon had warned before the op..