AIM: To observe the clinical features and optical coherence tomography(OCT)characteristics of focal choroidal excavation(FCE).

METHODS: The medical records of patients with FCE determined by OCT during the period of time from January 2014 to January 2016 were reviewed and analyzed. All patients underwent systematic ophthalmic examinations, including visual acuity, refractive status, slit lamp, ophthalmoscopy, OCT, etc.

RESULTS: Totally 24 men(26 eyes)and 15 women(16 eyes)were included in this study(20 left eyes, 16 right eyes, and 3 cases of bilateral eyes). The average age of patients was 50.4±16.7 years old. The range of patients refraction was(-2.51±2.60)D, and best corrected visual acuity(BCVA)was 0.60±0.26. Forty-six lesions were observed in 39 patients(42 eyes), with 37 cases(80%)of the conforming type and 9 cases(20%)of the nonconforming type. The average lesion width was 648.4±249.2μm and average depth was 128.0±50.4μm. BCVA in patients with the lesion under the fovea(16, 35%)was significantly lower than that with the lesion outside the fovea(P<0.05). FCE was complicated with choroidal neovascularization(CNV)in 3 cases, macular epiretinal membranes(ERM)in one case, macular hole and(epiretinal membrane)ERM in one case, macular lamellar hole and ERM in one case. There was no significant correlation among patient's age, visual acuity, FCE width and FCE depth in linear correlation analysis(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION: FCE were mainly found in aging patients with mild and moderate myopia, mostly belonged to the conforming type in single eye. FCE was observed to complicate with macular hole, macular ERM and CNV. The visual acuity may be affected with FCE under the fovea. Further study on its etiology of FCE is needed.