Introduction: Asteroid hyalosis (AH) is characterized by mild vitreous-body liquefaction and a reduced likelihood of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). Here, we report the clinical features of 2 cases of macular hole (MH) in eyes with AH. The extent of retinal vitreous adhesion at the time of vitreous surgery, the presence or absence of iatrogenic retinal breaks, and the postoperative course was examined in regard to the association with AH.
Case presentation: Case 1 involved a 67-year-old female with decreased visual acuity in her left eye. Although preoperative optical coherence tomography examination revealed complete PVD with operculum around the fovea central region, vitreoretinal adhesion was quite strong starting at the midperiphery of the fundus, and an iatrogenic retinal break was formed at the inferior site during vitreous surgery. Endophotocoagulation was performed, and no onset of retinal detachment (RD) postsurgery was observed. Case 2 involved a 74-year-old male with metamorphopsia in his right eye. Preoperative perifoveal PVD was observed, yet vitreoretinal adhesion was strong starting at the midperiphery of the fundus and multiple iatrogenic retinal breaks had formed on the inferior, superior, and temporal sites. Moreover, RD occurred during surgery. Endophotocoagulation and gas tamponade was performed; however, postoperative RD requiring multiple reoperations occurred.
Conclusion: As with normal MH, MH with AH is thought to be caused by perifoveal PVD, yet as the vitreoretinal adhesion was found to be quite strong starting at the midperiphery of the fundus, we decided to keep the artificial PVD within a range where adhesion was loose.