Epiretinal Membrane (ERM) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Eyes

There was a clue available to you within the name of the disease. Retinal means 'relating to the retina' and the retina is a part of the eye.

Answer: Acuity vision

The macula is found near the centre of your retina. It is oval in shape and yellow in colour. Its job is to provide you with your 'straight ahead' vision. This essentially is the fine detail of your sight, the feature that helps with the reading of small print and recognising shapes and faces.

Answer: An abnormal wrinkling of the retina

The clue was the word 'retinal', which means 'relating to the retina'. Scar tissue can form on the retina of the eye directly over the macula. When this scar tissue contracts, a wrinkling effect is created over the retina.
A bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands is more commonly referred to as a 'stye'. Shadowlike shapes that cause impaired vision are known as 'floaters' and 'anisometropia' describes the condition where both eyes have different focal lengths.

Answer: All of these are possible

Imagine yourself buying a roll of film and scrunching it up in your hand. You then place this film into a camera and take your picture. The end result is a wrinkled photograph. Technically that may not be possible but it gives you some idea as to the kind of distortion that ERM can create.

It also has the power to make objects appear wavy like in a heat haze. The amount of vision that an individual will lose will vary from person to person. Some will endure severe loss of vision while others will barely notice it.

Answer: True

There are two parts to the retina, the peripheral retina and the macula. The peripheral is concerned with your sideways vision and the macula your central vision. ERM is a covering that appears only over the macula. Hence your sideways vision is not affected.

Answer: Posterior vitreous detachment (PVD)

There is a gel covering that sits between the lens and the retina in your eyeball. This is called 'vitreous humour'. As we get older this gel will start to become more like a fluid than a gel and will begin to separate from your retina. Now there's no need to panic, this is quite normal and it is not likely to cause you grief.
However, with some people, this attachment between the lens, gel and retina is a lot firmer and when it does start to separate it also begins to cause damage. The body wants to look after itself and its automatic reaction is to flood this area with cells to start the healing process. As there are too many cells in the area, some form of scarring will develop. It is this scar tissue that is called ERM.

Answer: True

Posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) is bought about, predominantly, by old age. It is a natural response to us getting older and not something we can do a great deal about. It is not, as a rule, a threat to our sight.
There are a few theories in place which argue that as PVD is an auto-protective response to what is, essentially, inflammation and that the use of substances such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) could be used to reduce inflammation and, accordingly, PVD. The difficulty will be detection and the timing of dosages.

Answer: Vitrectomy surgery

The best hint I could give you was to install the word remove into the question and of the four options the only one that really indicates removal is surgery. Surgery is the only way to remove an ERM. The procedure is usually completed in less than an hour under local anaesthesia.
Surgeons will firstly, remove the gel from the eye, then peel back the membrane and remove the scar tissue. The gel that's been removed is replaced by a fluid solution that is similar to the make up of the gel.

Answer: All of these are potential risks

The chances of retinal tears occurring during surgery or post operatively are small, however, in the event that they do occur, they are easily repaired. The serious one in this lot is the haemorrhaging and the retina detachment. This is a very rare event but one needs to be aware that the risk is present.

Answer: All of these activities should be avoided

The best thing that you can do for yourself after ERM surgery is rest but there's no reason why you can't go for a light walk. Your ability to watch television or even read a book should not be affected. You may find that when the macula has healed that you may be prescribed glasses.