To investigate the therapeutic effect of posterior scleral contraction on macular splitting in pathologic myopia.

This was a retrospective study. Posterior scleral contraction was performed on 45 eyes (24 cases) with macular cleft palate from December 2014 to April 2017 from Nanjing First Hospital. Outcomes, including BCVA, ocular axial length, refractive error, central foveal thickness and surgical complications, were observed at the preoperative baseline and postoperatively 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Data were performed by repeated measures analysis of variance.

Central foveal thickness preoperatively and postoperatively at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months was 494±31, 299±24, 256±24, 200±22, 168±25 μm, respectively. Both decreased significantly compared with preoperative measurements (P<0.05). Axial length postoperatively at 1, 3, 6 months was 28.6±2.1, 28.9±2.0, 29.3±2.0 mm, which was a statistically significant compared to the baseline 30.5±2.2 mm (P<0.05). Axial length at 12 months was 29.8±2.1 mm, which was no statistically significant difference compared to the baseline (P>0.05). Refractive errors at 1 and 3 months were -15.14±5.16 D and -15.64±5.05 D, which was a statistically significant diminishment compared to the baseline (-17.33±7.43 D)(P<0.05). Refractive errors at 6 and 12 months were -15.96±4.97 D and -17.05±5.10 D, which was no statistically significant difference compared to the baseline (P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference of BCVA between the preoperative and the postoperative (P>0.05).

Posterior scleral contraction might become a safe and effective way to treat macular cleavage in high myopia with or without retinal detachment.

myopia; macular cleft; posterior scleral contraction