The comparison of the effects of different staining of internal limiting membrane in idiopathic macular hole surgery

Objective To compare the effects of different staining of internal limiting membrane (ILM) to the prognosis of macular hole surgery. Methods Prospective, randomized, consecutive case series. 92 eyes of 92 patients with IMH in stage II, III, IV that underwent vitrectomy combined with ILM peeling during the period of January 2001 to October 2004 were enrolled. All according to the different staining-assisted meth- ods while ILM-P:Group A (34 eyes of 34 patients) of these patients were divided into three groups underwent ILM peeling without any dye, group B (28 eyes of 28 patients) underwent 0.5% ICG-assisted ILM peeling, and group C (30 eyes of 30 patients )underwent 0.1% Tryban blue-assisted ILM peeling. Preoperative and postop- erative data including duration of the macular hole, stage of the macular hole by OCT imaging, macular hole size, lens status of the patient, and the best-corrected visual acuity were recorded. Results ICG and TB can make the ILM better visible and easy removed. The ILM had not removed completely in 1 eye in group A and C respectively. There was no significant difference between Group B and C, while different between Group A and group B/C. Closure rate and the postoperative BCVA had not significant differences among the three groups. Conclusion ICG and TB can make the ILM better visible and be peeled off easily, and dye-assisted ILM peeling demonstrates anatomic and visual results with sigle ILM peeling. But the potential toxicity of ICG andTB should be studied. Internal limiting membrane peeling no staining may be the best choice.