Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of macular buckling in eyes with myopic foveoschisis and describe two methods of macular buckling: hard silicone implant and Ando plombe.
Methods: Sixteen eyes of 16 consecutive patients with myopic foveoschisis who underwent surgery with the macular buckling procedure were studied. Pars plana vitrectomy combined with macular buckling with hard silicone implant was used in 6 eyes, whereas the other 10 eyes underwent pars plana vitrectomy and macular buckling with the Ando macular plombe.
Results: Macular buckling, with both hard silicone implant and macular plombe resulted in reduction of retinal thickness in all patients. Best-corrected visual acuity improved in 14 of 16 eyes (87.5%), whereas it remained stable or decreased in 2 eyes (12.5%). Mean preoperative best-corrected visual acuity was 20/125 (mean logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution 0.8), whereas mean postoperative best-corrected visual acuity improved to 20/50 (mean logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution 0.39). Both methods showed a similar rate of complications, the most frequent being the development of localized areas of retinal pigment epithelium atrophy.
Conclusion: Combined pars plana vitrectomy and macular buckling is an effective approach to treat myopic foveoschisis with both anatomical and visual improvement. Despite a similar complication rate with both buckling techniques, macular buckling with the Ando plombe was found to be technically easier with shorter surgical times.