AIM: To study the clinical characteristics of retinal hole patients with vitreous opacity as initial symptom.

METHODS:Clinical data of sixty eyes from sixty patients who came to our hospital with an initial symptom of vitreous floaters from June 2015 to June 2016 were retrospective studied. A diagnosis of retinal hole was made in all the patients by the eye B ultrasonic, dilated eye examination and optical coherence tomography.

RESULTS: No history of trauma or other eye diseases were identified in all the 60 cases. The patients were aged from 18 to 69 years old, and 48 of them were over 40. The number of the retinal holes ranged from one to four per eye. Twelve eyes(20%)of the patients had more than one hole, and retinal holes of 10(17%)patients were found in two different locations, with the size of the holes ranging from 1/6 to 2 PD. The holes in 39 eyes(65%)were found in the superior temporal retina, and the holes in 18 eyes(30%)were found in the inferior temporal retina. The shape of the holes was circle in 46 eyes(77%). B ultrasound revealed that all the 60 eyes showed different degrees of vitreous opacity, among which 48 eyes(80%)complicated with posterior vitreous detachment, and 24 eyes of them also suffered from a high degree of myopia.

CONCLUSION: Retinal hole with initial symptom of vitreous opacity was mostly diagnosed in elderly people. A detailed retinal examination of each patient who experiences vitreous floaters should be done. B ultrasonic and dilated eye examinations can make diagnosis clearly. OCT examination can serve as a supportive evidence to facilitate the diagnosis of retinal hole.