Fellow eye of patients with retinal detachment associated with macular hole and bilateral high myopia.

PURPOSE: To estimate the risk of retinal detachment in the fellow eye of patients with bilateral high myopia who had retinal detachment associated with macular hole (MH-RD) in one eye.

METHODS: The present study examined retrospectively 56 patients with bilateral high myopia who had MH-RD. To determine the incidence of involvement of the fellow eye, patients who completed a follow up of 12 months or longer were eligible for the current study.

RESULTS: Of 56 patients with MH-RD due to high myopia, 54 had unilateral detachment at presentation and two had bilateral detachment. Of the 54 highly myopic fellow eyes without retinal detachment at presentation, 37 eyes underwent 12 or more months of documented follow up. Mean follow up after initial surgery to the primary eye was 6.5 +/- 4.9 years. During follow up, a macular hole without retinal detachment was noted in one (2.7%) of these 37 eyes. Three other eyes (8.1%) had MH-RD at 1, 2 and 7 years, respectively, after the initial surgery to the primary eye. At the final visit, 12 eyes (32%) had visual acuity of > or =6/9, whereas 12 eyes (32%) had visual acuity of < or =6/60.

CONCLUSIONS: When patients with bilateral high myopia have MH-RD in one eye, they would be expected to be at increased risk of retinal detachment in the fellow eye.