PURPOSE: To investigate whether shortening the duration of face-down positioning from 1 week to 3 days affects the anatomical success rate of macular hole surgery. METHODS: A total of 53 consecutive eyes in 50 patients with full thickness macular holes of 2-24 months' (average 10 months) duration were included in the study. In 20 eyes (37.7%) the hole had been present for more than 1 year. All patients were operated with vitrectomy, removal of the posterior hyaloid and a complete fluid-gas exchange. Peeling of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) was not performed. Postoperatively, the duration of face-down positioning differed between two consecutive groups of patients. The first group (29 patients) was instructed to keep their heads face-down for 7 days, while the second group (24 patients) maintained face-down positioning for only 3 days. RESULTS: Overall, 90.6% of the macular holes closed with one operation. The macular hole closed successfully in 27 (93.1%) of the 29 eyes in the 1-week group and in 21 (87.5%) of the 24 eyes in the 3-day group (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Although the frequency of hole closure differed slightly in the two study groups, the difference was far from statistically significant. Thus, the results indicate that 3 days of strict face-down positioning are sufficient to achieve closure of even longstanding macular holes without removal of the ILM.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Jørgen Krohn (2005) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: