Unfortunately there are a few potentially important complications of epiretinal membrane surgery. It is important to note at this point that only about 1 in 50 patients who undergo epiretinal membrane surgery would be expected to be significantly worse worse as a result of the operation. Five important complications are:

(i) Persistent or recurrent membrane.

Some membrane may be left behind and the symptoms of distortion might not go away. In other patients, the membrane may recur with re-crumpling of the retina. In either eventuality, further surgery can be discussed and is potentially successful.

(ii) A cataract will develop in virtually everybody who undergoes epiretinal membrane surgery that has not already had a cataract operation.

This complication is so common that I now routinely offer cataract surgery as part of an epiretinal membrane operation.

(iii) Retinal detachment.

Retinal detachment will occur in about 1 in 100 people undergoing an epiretinal membrane operation. The vast majority of retinal detachments are repairable but this can potentially be a blinding complication and surgery is needed to repair the detachment.

(iv) Infection.

Infection will occur in about 1 in every 300 patients who undergo an epiretinal membrane operation. This tends to occur in the 2 to 5 days after the operation. If caught early enough, then most infections within the eye can be treated successfully. Unfortunately, infection can be a devastating complication of surgery. Overall, less than 1% of patients could expect to end up worse after epiretinal membrane surgery.

(v) Glaucoma.

Raised pressure may occur in an eye that has undergone an epiretinal membrane operation. In most cases this can be successfully treated without any harm coming to the eye. In a small proportion of patients there may be sight threatening damage to the eye as a consequence of high pressure.