Vitreous surgery for cystoid macular edema in a case of retinitis pigmentosa

A 31-year-old female was referred to us for suspected retinitis pigmentosa in her left eye. Her corrected visual acuity was 1.2 right and 0.5 left. Funduscopy showed coarse retinal pigment epithelium and attenuated vessels in both eyes. Pronounced cystoid macular edema (CME) was present in the left eye. She was diagnosed with bilateral retinitis pigmentosa. Her left visual acuity decreased to 0.3 17 months later. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed vitreoretinal traction as the probable cause of CME. We performed vitrectomy by creating detachment of posterior vitreous membrane and replacing the vitreous with sulfer hexafluoride. The internal limiting membrane was left intact. The CME became less conspicuous and the visual acuity improved to 0.5 after surgery. The visual acuity decreased to 0.3 4 months later. This case illustrates that CME in retinitis pigmentosa may not improve permanently after surgical release of vitreoretinal traction.