Sir,

We appreciate Robbie and Snead's comment on our article: ‘Intravitreal triamcinolone staining observation of residual undetached cortical vitreous after posterior vitreous detachment’. In their comment, the authors made a distinction between posterior hyaloid membrane (PHM) and cortical gel it envelops, and questioned about whether our technique is also applicable for the identification (and removal) of residual or undetached PHM. Triamcinolone acetonide (TA)-assisted identification of undetached PHM utilizes the property of TA particles to adhere to the cortical vitreous for better visualization of the posterior vitreous membrane.1 Horio et al2 in their study of TA-assisted internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling found, under light microscopy, TA particles adhered to the thin layer of the residual vitreous on the ILM. This finding suggests that only a thin layer of vitreous is required for TA to stain. We assume that most, if not all, residual vitreous fragments on the retina surface after recent onset PVD should contain at least a thin layer of vitreous and thus can be stained with TA. It is not known how frequent and on what conditions would ‘naked’ PHM exists.

Log in or create a free account to read this content

Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com

Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account
Continue with Google
Continue with ORCiD