Surgical Outcome of Vitreomacular Traction Associated With Macular Hole

Vitreomacular Interface pathology and its surgical treatment is an ever-evolving field in vitreoretinal surgery. Various treatments have been proposed for macular holes associated with vitreomacular traction including ocriplasmin injection, gas injection, and pars plana vitrectomy with posterior hyaloid face stripping with or without internal limiting membrane peeling. The time of intervention in patients with vitreomacular traction syndrome is also a point of contention among researchers. Here we present a case of an 83-year-old male patient who presented to the outpatient department with a history of grossly decreased visual acuity of counting fingers in the right eye. An altered foveal reflex was seen in an otherwise unremarkable ocular examination. The left eye revealed no pertinent findings. The patient was diagnosed with vitreomacular traction syndrome on spectral domain optical coherence tomography. There was an associated grade 1b macular hole according to the International Vitreomacular Traction Study classification. As the roof of the macular hole was intact, we decided to proceed with pars plana vitrectomy and careful stripping of the posterior hyaloid face. However, this resulted in a full-thickness macular hole and no change in visual acuity. A second surgery comprising internal limiting membrane peel using brilliant blue dye with perfluoropropane (C₃F₈) gas tamponade was done. Follow-up after six weeks showed a visual acuity improvement to 20/120 and restoration of foveal configuration. To the best of our knowledge, such a clinical case has not been reported in locally published literature.