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Book

Epiretinal Membrane

In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
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Book

Epiretinal Membrane

Venkata M. Kanukollu et al.
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Excerpt

In 1865, Iwanoff described an epiretinal membrane (ERM) as the proliferation of cellular tissue on the surface of the retina along the inner limiting membrane. Its a commonly occurring condition, affecting the posterior pole of the retina over the macula. It appears as a greyish semi-translucent avascular membrane over the internal limiting membrane (ILM) on the surface of the retina. The other synonyms for ERM are macular pucker, preretinal macular fibrosis, surface wrinkling retinopathy, epimacular proliferations, epiretinal fibrosis or gliosis, and cellophane maculopathy.

Etiology is unknown and can be seen as an idiopathic (IERM) condition or secondary to trauma, post intraocular surgery, chronic ocular diseases, etc. It progressively affects the central vision and causes metamorphopsia. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is the diagnostic procedure of choice for diagnosing and assessing the extent of the epiretinal membrane and its impact on the retinal morphology. Treatment, when indicated, is pars-plana vitrectomy (PPV) with ERM and ILM peeling.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Venkata Kanukollu declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Prateek Agarwal declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

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