The Surgical Removal of Macular Subretinal Hemorrhage

Subretinal hemorrhage affecting the macula may occur secondary to a variety of etiologies and often results in significant visual loss. Recently, we removed five subretinal hemorrhage affecting the macula by means of vitrectomy combined with the use of tissue plasminogen activator(20-40ug) to facilitate clot removal throught a small retinotomy. Mean follow up period was 7 months. The significant visual improvement(defined as 2 lines) was achieved in 4 of 5 eyes. The postoperative complications were retinal detachment(1 eye), macular fold(1 eye) and recurrent retinal membrane(1 eye). These results suggested that subretinal hemorrhage affecting the macula can be surgically removed with improvement of central vision.