An anterior surgical approach to aphakic cystoid macular edema

Fifteen consecutive eyes in 14 patients (six men and eight women, ranging in age from 43 to 75 years) underwent anterior vitrectomy for chronic cystoid macular edema documented by fluorescein angiography. All eyes had either vitreous adhesions to the cataract incision with pupillary distortion, or adherence of vitreous strands to the iris. Anterior vitrectomy via the corneoscleral limbus was performed in each case to remove vitreous from anterior segment structures. Thirteen of the 15 eyes showed visual improvement, with 12 of the 15 showing improvement of two Snellen lines or more. There was no direct correlation between the duration of aphakic cystoid macular edema and final visual acuity.