Surgical removal of subfoveal hard exudates in diabetic maculopathy

PURPOSE: To examine the efficacy of surgical removal of subfoveal hard exudates during surgery in diabetic maculopathy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was done on 60 patients (66 eyes) that all underwent surgical removal of subfoveal hard exudates under the same surgeon. Thirty-two men (37 eyes) and 28 women (29 eyes) were included in this study. The average age of the patients was 60 years (range, 30-77 years). The average follow-up period was 21 months (range, 12-48 months). All eyes were classified into 3 groups: 13 postoperative massive type eyes, 31 massive type eyes, and 22 scatter type eyes. We evaluated the visual results of these types. RESULTS: Preoperative and postoperative mean visual acuity was as follows: postoperative massive type 0.11, 0.22, massive type 0.12, 0.29, and scatter type 0.19, 0.33. Postoperatively visual acuity improved significantly in all types. There were no subfoveal hard exudates postoperatively in any eyes. CONCLUSION: Surgical removal of massive subfoveal hard exudates is effective, but its effects on vision are limited. Surgical removal of deposited subfoveal hard exudates may prevent massive subfoveal hard exudates postoperatively and improve visual prognosis.