Macular Edema

There are various treatments for CME.To address the inflammatory cause, medications such as steroids can be administered orally, topically, or injected in or around the eye. In some cases, steroid treatment results in dramatic improvement and the patient recovers good vision, but in other cases there is little or no improvement. In these cases, other medications, such as non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs, may prove beneficial. If the eye fails to respond to medical treatment and there is evidence that the vitreous is tugging on the macula, a surgical procedure called vitrectomy can be performed to eliminate the tugging vitreous. As in the case of steroid treatment, some patients respond very well to the surgery and recover good vision, while others experience little or no improvement.

Overall, most cases of Macular Edema can be helped with the treatments mentioned above. However, Macular Edema which has been present for two years or longer may have produced irreversible changes in the macula. Even if treatment is not successful, or the macula is damaged severely enough so that central vision becomes very low, peripheral or side vision is almost always maintained so that mobility is not affected. In general, people do not go blind, even in the most severe cases. <