Long-standing venous stasis retinopathy with resultant cystoid macular edema

A 62-year-old Hispanic male presented with decreased left eye vision secondary to long-standing, chronic cystoid macular edema as a result of venous stasis retinopathy. Treatment of venous stasis retinopathy is generally directed at reducing or eliminating the macular edema to avoid permanent visual acuity loss. There is still debate as to which forms of treatment are effective as well as which type of treatment is best. Argon laser photocoagulation, and to a certain extent steroid therapy, however, appear to give the best results. In the presented case, treatment was not initiated because of a poor prognosis for improvement due to a poor level of visual acuity and the chronicity of the cystoid macular edema.