Relationship between presence of foveal bulge in optical coherence tomographic images and visual acuity after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair.

Objective: To determine whether a significant correlation exists between the presence of a bulge in the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment line and the best-corrected visual acuity in eyes after successful rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) repair.

Methods: Patients who had undergone successful RRD repair and had an intact inner segment/outer segment line at the central fovea in the spectral-domain optical coherence tomographic images were retrospectively studied. Thirty-five eyes of 35 patients were evaluated, and the eyes were classified preoperatively into those with macula-on RRD (n = 14) and those with macula-off RRD (n = 21). Examination of the spectral-domain optical coherence tomographic images of normal eyes showed that the inner segment/outer segment line has a bulge at the central fovea. The 35 eyes with successful retinal reattachment were classified by the presence or absence of foveal bulge.

Results: The presence of foveal bulge differed significantly between macula-on RRD (100%) and macula-off RRD group (28.6%; P < 0.0001). In the macula-off RRD group, the best-corrected visual acuity was significantly better in eyes with a foveal bulge than in eyes without a foveal bulge (P = 0.0028).

Conclusions: The foveal bulge is a good marker to determine the functional properties of the fovea in eyes with successful RRD repair.