Outcomes of 23G vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane peeling with brilliant blue in patients with myopic foveoschisis from a retrospective cohort study

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling in patients with myopic foveoschisis (MF) treated with 23-gauge (23G) vitrectomy improved the anatomical and visual outcomes. In this retrospective cohort study, from March 2014 to August 2017 at the Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University (Nanchang, China), 60 patients (60 eyes) with MF underwent 23G vitrectomy. The patients were grouped according to whether they underwent brilliant blue-assisted ILM peeling (peeling group) or not (non-peeling group). Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT) on optical coherence tomography were measured. There were 30 eyes in each group and the baseline characteristics were similar (all P>0.05). BCVA improved in 24 eyes (80%) in the peeling group and 25 eyes (83.3%) in the non-peeling group (P=0.922). Preoperative CMT was not significantly different between the peeling and non-peeling group (458±62.2 vs. 460±61.1 µm, respectively, P=0.229). However, postoperative CMT was significantly different between the peeling and non-peeling group (269.3±67.7 vs. 294.4±60.5 µm, respectively; P=0.015). In the peeling group, MF was completely resolved in all 30 eyes, but only in 26 eyes in the non-peeling group (P=0.038). Postoperative Amsler testing was positive in five eyes in the peeling group and 13 eyes in the non-peeling group (P=0.024). Complications were similar in both groups; postoperatively, there were one and two cases of iatrogenic peripheral retinal break, three and two cases of macular hole, and one and one case of retinal detachment in the peeling and non-peeling groups, respectively.23G vitrectomy combined with brilliant blue-assisted ILM peeling resulted in better visual and anatomical effects compared with 23G vitrectomy alone in patients with MF.