Purpose: To evaluate the vision-related quality of life of vitrectomy combined with autologous internal limiting membrane (ILM) transplantation for refractory macular holes (MHs).
Methods: There were 40 eyes with refractory MHs included, and all eyes received 23 G vitrectomy and ILM peeling with autologous ILM transplantation. Preoperative and postoperative basic conditions were recorded. The Chinese version of the vision-related quality-of-life scale was used to evaluate patients after operation. Quality of life, postoperative visual acuity, and size of MHs before operation were assessed with Spearman rank correlations.
Results: All patients were followed up for 3 months after surgery. Mean postoperative best-corrected visual acuity had significantly improved after surgery. Vision-related quality of life of patients after surgery was closely related to the MH index, but negatively correlated with best-corrected visual acuity before and after surgery.
Conclusion: The anatomical structure of refractory MHs with ILM peeling combined with autologous ILM transplantation was largely reduced, and the visual acuity of patients improved significantly.
Keywords: refractory macular hole, internal limiting membrane transplantation, vision-related quality of life