THE IMPACT OF EARLY SURGICAL INTERVENTION ON ANISEIKONIA IN PATIENTS WITH EPIRETINAL MEMBRANE

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of early surgical intervention in ameliorating aniseikonia among patients with epiretinal membrane. Methods: This prospective cohort study enrolled patients who underwent surgery for epiretinal membrane. Patients were divided into early (symptom onset within 1 year) and late (symptom onset $1 year) treatment groups. Changes in aniseikonia, best-corrected visual acuity, and tangential retinal displacement were assessed and compared at 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Results: Of the 56 patients, 30 (53.6%) belonged to the early treatment group and 26 (46.4%) to the late treatment group. The early treatment group demonstrated a significant reduction in aniseikonia score at 6- and 12-month follow-up visits (21.10 6 1.50 [P = 0.002] and 21.18 6 1.79 [P = 0.003], respectively); however, no improvement was observed in the late treatment group (0.98 6 4.62 [P = 0.310] and 1.52 6 4.35 [P = 0.124], respectively). The early treatment group showed larger tangential retinal displacement at the 12-month postoperative follow-up visit. In addition, the amount of tangential retinal displacement was associated with postoperative changes in aniseikonia. Conclusion: Early surgical intervention is helpful in improving aniseikonia in patients with epiretinal membrane. The degree of recovery in inner retinal displacement was associated with the improvement of aniseikonia.