The internal limiting membrane (ILM), the basement membrane of the Müller cells, serves as the interface between the vitreous body and the retinal nerve fiber layer. It has a fundamental role in the development, structure, and function of the retina, although it also is a pathologic component in the various vitreoretinal disorders, most notably in macular holes. It was not until understanding o...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical results of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) combined with the surgical enlargement of internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling in patients who had previously undergone failed idiopathic macular hole (IMH) surgery. In the study, 134 eyes from 130 IMH patients who had received PPV combined with ILM peeling surgery (2 disk diameters) were analyz...

BACKGROUND To report a case of late closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole (FTMH) after vitrectomy with the inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) technique. CASE PRESENTATION A 68-year-old lady with a stage IV FTMH underwent pars plana vitrectomy with 25 gauge plus transconjunctival system, ILM peeling and gas tamponade. The inverted ILM flap technique was adopted, except that ...

PURPOSE To investigate the difference in the occurrence of postoperative epiretinal membranes (ERMs) in vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment with and without peeling of the internal limiting membrane (ILM). METHODS The medical records of the 135 patients, who underwent vitrectomy for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment from November 2007 to August 2011, were analyzed retrosp...

More than 700 years ago, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote an epic poem about a man's journey through the afterworlds of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. In his Divine Comedy, he catalogued the vices and virtues of people who had passed into those spiritual domains, in part to provide a valuable insight to us, the living. Dante described hell as a very unhappy and inhospitable place that had differe...

According to the much-discussed argument from divine hiddenness, God’s existence is disconfirmed by the fact that not everyone believes in God. The argument has provoked an impressive range of theistic replies, but none has overcome – or, I suggest, could overcome – the challenge posed by the uneven distribution of theistic belief around the world, a phenomenon for which naturalistic explanatio...

BACKGROUND To report the optical coherence tomographic (OCT) findings in 4 eyes before and after a spontaneous resolution of a myopic traction maculopathy (MTM). METHOD Retrospective review of medical records including history, examination findings, fundus details, and finding of spectral-domain OCT (Cirrus HD-OCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg) findings i...

AIM To demonstrate that interference microscopy of flat mounted internal limiting membrane specimens clearly delineates cellular proliferations at the vitreomacular interface. METHODS ILM specimens harvested during vitrectomy were fixed in glutaraldehyde 0.05% and paraformaldehyde 2% for 24 h (pH 7.4). In addition to interference microscopy, immunocytochemistry using antibodies against glial ...

BACKGROUND To introduce a modified surgical technique, the "parafoveal multiple curvelinear internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling", to preserve epi-foveal ILM in myopic foveoschisis surgery. METHODS Consecutive patients with myopic foveoschisis were enrolled in the present prospective interventional case series. The surgeries were performed using transconjunctival 23-gauge system. The macu...