Dr. Michael Kutryb/Macular Hole Surgery

[jan17]

I have had a macular hole stage 1 for a few months and was told there is no surgical procedure until the hole becomes a stage 3. Is there a surgery for a stage 1 macular hole and if so please give an explanation. If one has to wait for stage 3, please give an explanation.
Thank you very much for your valuable information.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

I am not a retinal specialist but if the macular hole is not complete and vision is not that bad, then you might run the risk of actually making the problem worse if you have surgery.  These are not terribly easy problems to fix and if your vision might be better at present at maybe 20/40 or 20/50 (just guessing) compared to rolling the dice to see if you get a line or two better after surgery or maybe getting several lines worse.  Now if a more complete stage 3 hole, the vision will be so terrible (usually 20/200 or so) that statistically there is a good chance of making the vision significantly better, albeit, often only to the 20/50 or 20/70 range (but still better!)  It's all about risk vs benefit.

[jan17]

Thank you once again for your valuable response. My right eye has had surgery for a macular hole with vision 20/50 and an opaque circle which I can see through depending on lighting. My left eye with the recent macular hole vision is 20/40 with a bit of a dimple in my vision which is obvious because of my other eye. There is a bit of a distortion in my vision but nothing that limits my daily activities. Is there a chance the stage 1 hole could close or stay at a stage 1??