"Cherry-red spot" or "perifoveal white patch"?

The color of the normal fovea, red in Caucasians, contrasts with the surrounding retina, whose colour is altered by accumulation of metabolic products, causing retinal pallor. In this photo-essay, we present the fundus photographs of 3 patients of different race, all with metabolic disease, each of whose fovea contrasts with the surrounding retina, and for whom the expression "cherry red spot" is not necessarily accurate. We suggest that the term "perifoveal white patch" describes this characteristic finding more accurately. We also discuss the pathological entities that may produce this striking appearance, along with its histological and anatomical basis.