Long-term follow-up study of nonsenile detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium.

Re-assessment of a series of fluorescein angiograms of 76 patients referred to our hospital for central serous retinopathy (CSR) between 1973 and 1982 revealed 10 eyes of 8 patients (7 males, 1 female) aged 50 years or younger (mean age 42.6 years, median 43.5, range 36-49) with serous detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium (PED) with (3 eyes) or without (7 eyes) detachment of the neuroretina. Two eyes had two discrete PEDs and two eyes showed minor pigmentary disturbance outside the PED. In the remaining six eyes no other pigment epithelial (PE) changes were observed. In five patients no PE changes were found in the fellow eye. During the follow-up period of 2.8 to 14.3 years (mean 7.3, median 6.4) three eyes had one recurrence of symptoms. The long-term prognosis was good. None of the eyes developed subretinal neovascularization or geographic atrophy, in eight eyes PED flattened with a mild degree of pigment dispersion at the site, two eyes had persistent shallow PED. The latest visual acuity was 1.0 or better in nine eyes, and 0.6 in one. It is concluded that no treatment of nonsenile PED seems to be warranted.