Iris angiography in cystoid macular edema after cataract extraction

Iris angiography was performed on eight patients (nine eyes), who had cystoid macular edema postcataract extraction. The fundus fluorescein angiographies showed typical star-shaped, multiloculated staining of the macular area. The iris angiographies demonstrated moderate to massive leakage of dye from the iris, and possibly leakage of ciliary body vessels into the anterior chamber, thus evidencing the until now suspected but undocumented fact that fluorescein leakage is not restricted to the fundus vessels. These data tend to support the idea that this type of macular edema is due to a vascular abnormality, and not to altered vitreous mechanics.