What happens if I have an epiretinal membrane?

If you have what’s called an epiretinal membrane, a scar tissue on the surface of the retina, it can give you symptoms of blurred vision and distortion of vision. So when you look at straight lines they are a little bit wiggly. When you look at, for example tiles in the kitchen or the bathroom they have not perfectly perpendicular edges.
You can now do an operation in which you remove the vitreous gel, which is in the center of the eye and you can literally peel off the scar tissue and it’s a bit like cling film on the surface of the retina causing it to wrinkle.
The operation is carried out using incisions less than one millimetre wide to remove the vitreous gel and then gives you access to the scar tissue, which is on the surface of the retina, which is a bit cling film. You can literally pick that up pill it off and that will give you an improvement in vision and improvement in the distortion of the vision.

More about Paul Rosen

Paul Rosen is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at The Grange Eye Consultants. His special expertise is in laser eye surgery, cataract surgery, and the treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal diseases. He has over 20 years experience in treating people with eye problems. Paul is invited to lecture on cataract and refractive surgery both nationally and internationally. He leads clinical trials investigating novel eye treatments. Paul has served as the President of the UK and Ireland Society of Refractive Surgeons and is currently the President of the European Society of Corneal and Refractive Surgery. More recently I’d been appointed as a member of the NICE Cataract Guidelines Committee and also on the Refractive Surgery Subcommittee of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.