Reappraisal of Spontaneous Closure Rate of Idiopathic Full-Thickness Macular Holes

Abstract

We retrospectively reviewed the records of 142 eyes of 138 patients with idiopathic full-thickness macular hole. Spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole was observed in five eyes (3.5%) of four patients before the planned vitrectomy. In the era when surgical treatment was not available for macular hole, the rate of spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole was reported as 6.2%. Among several case reports on spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole based on the optical coherence tomography images only one study reported the rate of spontaneous closure as 2.7%. According to the previous reports and our results, small idiopathic full-thickness macular holes may close spontaneously in a few percent of all macular hole cases. The rate of spontaneous closure may be affected by the waiting time before vitrectomy.