Epiretinal membrane peeling for eyes with asteroid hyalosis: a case–control study

Purpose To evaluate anatomical and functional results of epiretinal membrane peeling for patients with asteroid hyalosis (AH) comparing with those of a control population without AH. Methods Retrospective, case–control study, of a cohort of 1104 patients operated from an epiretinal membrane (EM) between January 2002 and February 2014. Forty‐four consecutive patient were included in the EM associated with AH group and were compared to 44 control patient without AH, matched for: age, sex, date of surgery, and axial length. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness on OCT (CMT) were measured at baseline and postoperatively at 1, 6 and 12 months. Intraoperative and/or postoperative complications were also analyzed. Results 34 men and 10 women were included in the AH group. Respectively, the mean initial BCVA was 0.49 ± 0.21 logMar for the AH group vs 0.44 ± 0.21 logMAR for the control group (p = 0.2), and the mean initial CMT was 415 ± 71 µm vs 422 ± 73 µm (p = 0.6). No significant difference was found regarding the final BCVA, with respectively a mean of 0.37 vs 0.24 logMAR (p = 0.26) at 1 month, 0.27 vs. 0.23 logMAR (p = 0.5) at 6 months, and 0.17 vs 0.2 logMAR (p = 0.26) at 12 months. Also, no difference was found regarding the evolution of CMT, with respectively a mean of 368 vs 353 µm (p = 0.5) at 1 month, 347 vs 358 µm (p = 0.61) at 6 months, 345 vs 349 µm (p = 0.87) at 12 months. Only a single macular hole was recorded in the AH group in the follow up. Conclusions The presence of asteroid hyalosis does not constitute a factor of poor prognosis for visual recovery after epiretinal membrane peeling.