Morphological changes of macular soft drusen and drusenoid DPED after subthreshold micropulse laser treatment

AIM: To analyze the morphological changes of macular soft drusen and drusenoid pigmental epithelium detachment (DPED) after subthreshold micropulse laser treatment (SMLT). METHODS: Fourteen patients (20 affected eyes) with soft drusen and DPED clinically confirmed from August 2016 to October 2018, were included in this study. 577 nm yellow laser of SMLT was applied for soft drusen and DPED. The changes of soft drusen and DPED in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)(LogMAR)and height, diameter and cross-sessional area according to fundus autofluorescence and SD-OCT examinations were observed after SMLT RESULTS: BCVA was not significant difference after treatment of soft drusen (P=0.260), and the DPED (P=0.736) than that of the baseline. Compared with the baseline values, the height and cross-sessional area of soft drusen were reduced at the 6mo after treatment, and the differences were statistically significant (P=0.008, P=0.034). Compared with the baseline values, the differences were not statistically significant in height, diameter and cross-sectional area of DPED after treatment. CONCLUSION: BCVA was not reduced for drusen and DPED after SMLT, however, the height and cross-sessional area of soft drusen was reduced compared with those before treatment, and the differences were not statistically significant in height, diameter and cross-sectional area of DPED before and after treatment. The results indicated that SMLT was effective for soft drusen, but was not effective for short-term treatment of DPED. SMLT caused no damage to the visual acuity in treatment of soft drusen and DPED, but prospective, controlled, large sample and long-term follow-up studies should be required.