Vascular tufts of pupillary margin of iris

Abstract

A 71-year-old woman complained of "smoky" vision, which was found to be caused by a hyphema with blood dripping from a vascular tuft located in the 12 o'clock meridian of the iris. Fluorescein angiography delineated vascular tufts and argon laser photocoagulation eradicated one of the tufts that bled. Histopathologic studies of iris obtained at the time of cataract extraction showed an aggregate of small vessels at the pupillary margin. Most patients with vascular tufts of the pupillary margin have no systemic disease but they are also observed in diabetes mellitus and myotonic dystrophy.