Surgical management for macular folds after macular epiretinal membrane surgery: a report of two cases

Abstract

We report two rare cases of macular fold development after membrane peeling operation for epiretinal membrane. Patient 1 developed both inner and outer retinal folds, and patient 2 developed inner retinal fold; both were partial thickness macular folds. There was no evidence of retinal detachment or any preoperative macular fold. These configurations of retinal folds after macular epiretinal membrane surgery have not been reported before. In patient 1, four retinotomy sites were required to induce a complete macula detachment, as the retina was abnormally adherent than usual. In patient 2, no macular detachment was induced, and no intravitreal tamponade was used. Soft-tip cannula was used to relieve the inner retinal attachments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case using this method to successfully manage a retinal fold. This technique avoids the potential risks associated with retinotomies, macular re-detachment, and intravitreal tamponade. Both patients achieved resolution of macular folds and improvement in visual acuity.