En Face Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging of Foveal Dots in Eyes With Posterior Vitreous Detachment or Internal Limiting Membrane Peeling

PURPOSE: To analyze the morphology of foveal hyperreflective dots (HRD) identified with en face optical coherence tomography (OCT) and evaluate the effects of internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling and posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) on the number of these lesions. METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional study of patients with OCT angiography and en face OCT. Using en face OCT, superficial HRD lying on the foveal floor were measured and quantitated in eyes with ILM peel and in the fellow nonsurgical eyes. Eyes with foveal PVD were also compared to fellow eyes without foveal PVD. High-magnification en face OCT was also performed to better understand the morphology of HRD in the fovea. RESULTS: Eyes that underwent ILM peel (n = 10) displayed fewer HRD (P = 0.012) compared to control fellow nonoperated eyes. In eyes with foveal PVD, the mean number of HRD was numerically greater, but without statistical significance, compared to the contralateral eye without foveal PVD. High-magnification en face OCT illustrated HRD with irregular shapes and fine cilia-like or dendriform extensions. Average length of HRD was between 15 to 21 µm in all four groups. CONCLUSIONS: HRD decreased in eyes with ILM peeling by en face OCT compared with fellow nonoperated eyes and exhibited a glial cell-like morphology and size closely resembling the white dot fovea described previously using scanning electron microscopy. HRD may represent processes of activated retinal glia, possibly Muller cells, that traverse defects in the ILM.