It sounds frightening and it can be: A macular hole is an opening in the macula of your eye.The macula is a highly specialized area of the centralretinathat gives us the ability to see fine detail. We use our macula and central vision to view detailed objects when reading or driving. Usually occurring in people over the age of 60, macular holes can cause rapid loss ofcentral vision.
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Symptoms
Macular holes usually develop slowly. In the beginning, you might notice missing letters while reading, distorted vision, or blurry central vision in one eye. Straight edges may appear bowed or wavy. In advanced cases, you may have great central vision loss or notice a missing spot in your vision.
Causes
Most older adults never notice this process (which is normal) but a few people do experience “floaters” that may come in and out of their vision. Unfortunately, sometimes the gel pulls away from the macula, too, causing a macular hole.In other cases, the tiny fibers that are tied to the retina may pull the macula and cause a macular hole. Fluid may accumulate and cause distorted or blurry vision.
Types of Macular Holes
Macular holes are classified based on size and progression. The four stages of a macular hole are:
Treatment
This gas holds the edges of the macula together to allow healing. This gas treatment usually requires you to hold your head in a face-down position anywhere from a few hours to 2 weeks depending on the surgeon. Research is currently evaluating how important this step is, as it is very difficult for the patient.
A Word From Verywell
If you develop a macular hole in one eye, you have about a 30% chance of it developing one in the other eye. If you have a macular hole in one eye and the other eye has a posterior vitreous detachment, your chance of developing another macular hole begins to decrease. If you notice any change in your central vision, see youreye doctorright away. Early detection and treatment of macular are crucial for a positive outcome.
2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Parravano M, Giansanti F, Eandi CM, Yap YC, Rizzo S, Virgili G.Vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;(5):CD009080. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009080.pub2.Budoff G, Bhagat N, Zarbin MA.Traumatic macular hole: Diagnosis, natural history, and management.J Ophthalmol. 2019;2019:5837832. doi:10.1155/2019/5837832Additional ReadingSowka, Joseph W, Andrew S Gurwood and Alan G Kabat.The Handbook of Ocular Disease Management, Supplement to Review of Optometry, pp 35-36, 15 APR 2010.
2 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Parravano M, Giansanti F, Eandi CM, Yap YC, Rizzo S, Virgili G.Vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;(5):CD009080. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009080.pub2.Budoff G, Bhagat N, Zarbin MA.Traumatic macular hole: Diagnosis, natural history, and management.J Ophthalmol. 2019;2019:5837832. doi:10.1155/2019/5837832Additional ReadingSowka, Joseph W, Andrew S Gurwood and Alan G Kabat.The Handbook of Ocular Disease Management, Supplement to Review of Optometry, pp 35-36, 15 APR 2010.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Parravano M, Giansanti F, Eandi CM, Yap YC, Rizzo S, Virgili G.Vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;(5):CD009080. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009080.pub2.Budoff G, Bhagat N, Zarbin MA.Traumatic macular hole: Diagnosis, natural history, and management.J Ophthalmol. 2019;2019:5837832. doi:10.1155/2019/5837832
Parravano M, Giansanti F, Eandi CM, Yap YC, Rizzo S, Virgili G.Vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;(5):CD009080. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009080.pub2.
Budoff G, Bhagat N, Zarbin MA.Traumatic macular hole: Diagnosis, natural history, and management.J Ophthalmol. 2019;2019:5837832. doi:10.1155/2019/5837832
Sowka, Joseph W, Andrew S Gurwood and Alan G Kabat.The Handbook of Ocular Disease Management, Supplement to Review of Optometry, pp 35-36, 15 APR 2010.
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