Vision-related Quality of Life in Low-vision Patients Who Underwent Epiretinal Membrane Surgery

Purpose: To evaluate vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in patients with preoperative low vision who had previously removed epiretinal membrane (ERM) with pars plana vitrectomy, and compared the results with the control group (CG). Methods: In this retrospective and nonrandomized clinical study, 20 subjects with unilateral ERM and 20 healthy subjects as CG were included in the study. The Turkish-translated National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI VFQ-25) was used. In all cases, under local anesthesia, the two-step 23 G vitrectomy was performed with a similar technique by the same experienced vitreoretinal surgeon. Results: The preoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in ERM group was 1.04±0.41. Postoperative visual improvement reached statistical significance ( p <0.001) and postoperative 6th month BCVA was 0.61±0.41. The postoperative 6th month composite score of NEI VFQ-25 was significantly lower in patients with ERM than in the CG (p=0.017). The preoperative subscale scores were significantly lower in the patients with ERM than in the CG in general vision, ocular pain, near activities and distance activities ( p <0.001, p =0.005, p <0.001, p =0.003, respectively). Conclusions: The NEI VFQ-25 questionnaire can discriminate ERM patients from healthy individuals, and visual acuity does not fully reflect VR-QOL. Impaired binocular vision may be associated with the deterioration of VR-QOL in patients with ERM in the postoperative period.