[Areolar atrophy of the macula].

The article is a general review of central areolar choroidal dystrophy based on 24 cases, some of them followed from one year up to six years. Two major points are discussed: the etiology and the natural course. The disease is believed by the author not to be an etiological entity for, if it can occur as a primary maculopathy, it is more often the ultimate stage of another heredo macular degeneration. The visual prognosis depends more upon the location of the lesion than upon its size. Of course the visual prognosis is poor when the atrophy involves the center of the macula, but it is good, at least during several years, when the very center of the fovea is spared off.