Spontaneous Separation of Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane in an Elderly Patient

PURPOSE: To report a case of spontaneous separation of idiopathic epiretinal membrane in an elderly patient. CASE SUMMARY: A 61-year-old male presented with decreased visual acuity in the right eye. He was diagnosed with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) in the right eye and posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in both eyes. The patient underwent pars plana vitrectomy and ERM removal in the right eye. At postoperative 1 year, his vision in the right eye had improved, but idiopathic ERM developed in the left eye and visual acuity in the left eye decreased. Three years later, the ERM in the left eye resolved spontaneously and his vision increased. CONCLUSIONS: Herein we present a rare case of spontaneous separation of idiopathic ERM associated with a pre-existing PVD in an elderly patient and reviewed the available literatures regarding the possible mechanisms for the spontaneous separation of ERM in the presence of a pre-existing PVD.

Spontaneous Separation of Epiretinal Membrane in Young Adult

In children and young adults, secondary epiretinal membranes after ocular trauma, pars planitis, ocular toxocariasis, and Coat's disease are common and spontaneous separation occurs in a relatively higher rate with improvement in visual acuity than elderly patients. In a 31-year-old man with pars planitis, diffuse epiretinal membrane in the macula became thinner during systemic and topical steroid therapy. Two years after treatment, the preretinal membrane spontaneously separated from the macula to the inferior temporal arcade, and visual acuity improved from 0.15 to 1.0. The authors reviewed the available literatures regarding the possible mechanisms for the spontaneous separation ofepiretinal membrane.