Pathogenesis of tears of the retinal pigment epithelium.

This report confirms a previous report that elderly patients with serous detachments of the pigment epithelium prior to and after developing a pigment epithelial tear at one border present a characteristic ophthalmoscopic and fluorescein angiographic appearance. Evidence is presented that subpigment epithelial choroidal neovascularisation and not irregular separation of the basement membrane from its pigment epithelium is the primary cause of the detachment and tear in the pigment epithelium.