[Spontaneous separation of secondary epiretinal membrane].

The article presents a rare clinical case of secondary epiretinal membrane (ERM) in a 67-years-old woman. The patient was diagnosed with ERM in the left eye after loss of vision complaints. One year prior to the visit the patient had underwent 2 sessions of laser photocoagulation for proliferative post-thrombotic retinopathy in the left eye. In the context of relatively high visual functions (decimal visual acuity of 0.7 at the time of the visit), observation strategy was carried out. The follow-up period was 2 years. According to optical coherence tomography data, progressive deformation of retinal profile and an increase in diffuse retinal edema up to 391 μm in the fovea were observed in the course of the year, while visual acuity decreased to 0.6. Spontaneous separation of ERM, an increase in visual acuity to 0.9 and a decrease in retinal thickness to 236 μm were found during the subsequent visit. The authors discuss the presumable mechanisms of secondary ERM formation and separation and the impact of such cases in the management of patients with ERM and relatively high visual acuity.