Unfortunately, there are four major complications of macular hole surgery. However only about 1 in a 100 patients would be expected to be significantly worse as a result of undergoing macular hole surgery

1) Failure

Failure to close the hole will occur in about 1 in 2 out of 10 patients. In most circumstances, it is possible to have another go at surgery. If the hole fails to close, then the vision tends to be a little worse than it was prior to the surgery.

2) Cataract.

A cataract will develop in virtually everybody who undergoes macular hole surgery that has not already had a cataract operation performed. This complication is so common that I now routinely perform cataract surgery as part of a macular hole operation. This does not appear to affect either the success or complication rate and stops the patient from having 2 operations over 2 years.

3) Retinal detachment

Retinal detachment. Retinal detachment will occur in about 1 in a 100 people undergoing a macular hole 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.

4) Infection.

Infection will occur in about 1 in every 500 patients who undergo a macular hole operation. This tends to occur in the 2-5 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 macular hole surgery.

5) Glaucoma.

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