Can ERM peel cause distortion afterwards?

[anntab]

I don't remember having it before.  Things just seemed blurry.   My doctor said, I would have had it before but just didn't notice it because of the blur. But could the surgery have caused the metamorphopsia and the image size difference.  Can that be corrected with glasses?

[JohnHaganMD]

Most ERM surgery, even successful surgery leaves some distortion (metamorphosis),  and differences in image size (smaller micropsia. Larger macropsia).  Glasses generally do NOT help these problems.    There are many discussions on this you can access using the search feature.

[JohnHaganMD]

Major differences in image size is called aneisoconia.  There are a long series of posts by JodyJ on special contacts that helped her.  Size but not distortion

[anntab]

Is it possible that the ERM surgery itself caused retinal surface damage and my resulting distortion and aneisoconia?  I had good visual acuity before, and I actually think it is worse now, although it corrects to 20/25.  I did not know you could just watch a membrane and that most don't need surgery.  I just did what the doctor recommended.   My CMT score before was 378 and now it is essentially the same.   Is that one that would warrant the surgery in your opinion?  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

There is no way we can tell from this discussion group what your eye looked like before or after surgery and whether surgery was indicated. Generally surgery is indicated if the person is unhappy and bothered by the reduced vision, there is traction on the macula threatening to cause a full thickness macular hole and the person understands the risks involved and the expected results post op.

[MrPresley]

Look for aniseikonia on here regarding the image size difference. CBCT posted a lot of good information about the subject and dragged fovea syndrome.

[anntab]

Did you have a return to normal image size after your ERM peel, or do you still have distortion?   How did you deal with it?

[MrPresley]

I never noticed any difference in image size before having the ERM peel, but did notice approximately 10% (my estimate) smaller image size afterward, being what Dr. Hagan describes below as micropsia. It was never particularly bothersome, and either resolved itself or my brain adapted to it. Distortion...there was some due to post-operative cystoid macular edema as well as an advancing cataract, but the macular edema continues to improve without intervention and the cataract was removed over a year ago. End result is no distortion today. Note that I had the ERM peel performed what will soon be three years ago.

[JohnHaganMD]

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