Fixation stability and location in patients with unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane
Luminita Tarita-Nistor1, Mark S Mandelcorn, Martin J Steinbach
1Vision Science Research Program, Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Background And Objective:
To explore fixation stability of patients with decreased vision due to idiopathic epiretinal membrane.
Patients And Methods:
Fourteen consecutive patients with unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane participated. Visual acuity was measured with ETDRS, and fixation stability was recorded with the MP-1 microperimeter (Nidek Technologies Srl., Vigonza, Italy) for both eyes. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Results:
Visual acuity of the affected eye (mean = .45 ± .23 LogMAR) was significantly worse than that of the contralateral eye (mean = .11 ± .16 Log-MAR), P < .0001. Fixation stability of the affected eye was not significantly different from that of the contralateral eye. There was a high correlation between fixation stability of the affected and contralateral eyes, r(12) = .67, P = .0087. Moreover, fixation was central or within 3 degrees from the fovea.
Conclusion:
Despite lower visual acuity, untreated eyes with idiopathic epiretinal membrane have unimpaired central fixation.
