Materials and Methods: 26 eyes of 26 consecutive patients with idiopathic macular hole underwent pars plana vitrectomy , removal of posterior hyaloid and ILM peeling after ICG staining and 15 % C3F8 gas tamponade. The patients were kept in prone position for one week. The closure of macular hole, best corrected visual acuities and the complications were recorded postoperatively. The anatomical and visual results were compared with other studies using similar criteria.

Results: Stage 2 macular hole in 4 cases, stage 3 in 13 and stage 4 in 9 cases were determined. The macular holes were closed in 23 eyes out of 26 after a mean follow-up of 14.8 months. (88.5 %). Visual acuity improved in 19 eyes, remained same in 3 and decreased in 4 eyes postoperatively. The visual acuity improved 2 lines in 16 eyes ( 62%) and the mean visual acuity achievement was 2.7 lines. Visual acuity either remained the same or decreased in 3 eyes without anatomic closure of macular holes and in 4 eyes with cataract development. In early postoperative period, transient IOP increase was noted in 5 cases , cataract in 12 eyes and retinal detachment in one eye respectively. There were no RPE changes detectable by examination in the macular area and reopening of the hole was not noted in any case.

Conclusion: The peeling of the ILM leads to high rates of success in idiopathic macular hole surgery with regard to both anatomic and visual results. However, further prospective controlled studies are required in order to make sure of the benefits and probable toxicities of ICG. Keywords : Macular hole, internal limiting membrane , indocyanine green.