Relationships of the Duration from Onset and Macular Morphology with Metamorphopsia After Surgery for Macula-Off Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment.

Purpose: To investigate the relationships among postoperative metamorphopsia and postoperative macular morphological changes and the duration from the onset of visual field disturbance to surgery (DVD) in patients who underwent surgery for macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 33 eyes of 33 patients who underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for macula-off RRD with known onset of symptoms of visual field disturbance at Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital or Saiseikai Niigata Hospital and were followed up for at least 6 months postoperatively. Optical coherence tomography images of the macula obtained at 6 months postoperatively and DVD were analyzed, and the associations of the DVD with vertical metamorphopsia (vM) and horizontal metamorphopsia (hM) at 6 months postoperatively were evaluated using M-CHARTS.

Results: vM was significantly correlated with the DVD and ellipsoid zone (EZ) disruption (P = 0.004 and P = 0.008, respectively), while hM was significantly correlated only with the DVD (P = 0.018). vM was significantly smaller in eyes with a DVD ≤ 7 days (0.34 ± 0.35)) than in eyes with a DVD ≥ 8 days (0.69 ± 0.32) (P = 0.005). In the multivariate analyses, postoperative vM was significantly associated with EZ disruption and the DVD (≤ 7 or ≥ 8 days) (P = 0.012 and P = 0.014, respectively).

Conclusion: Metamorphopsia after PPV for macula off RRD was associated with the DVD and EZ disruption.