Lattice Degeneration

What is lattice degeneration?

Lattice degeneration (LD) is a weakening or thinning of your retina. These weakened spots often have a lattice-like pattern on retinal imaging, hence the name. It can affect one or both eyes. In fact, about half the people with LD have it in both eyes.

If your retinal tissue weakens or deteriorates enough, it can lead to retinal diseases or events like tears or detachments.

What are the symptoms of lattice degeneration?

Lattice degeneration doesn’t cause symptoms. The only way to know you have it is if an eye care specialist finds evidence on retinal imaging tests. While it doesn’t cause symptoms, experts still classify lattice degeneration as a disorder because it’s a disease-related process in your eyes.

What causes lattice degeneration?

Experts aren’t sure why lattice degeneration happens. But research shows a couple of factors that make it more likely to happen. People who are nearsighted have a higher risk, as do people with a family history of certain genetic disorders like connective tissue diseases or retinal detachments. But it can also happen in people who aren’t nearsighted or who have no family history.

What are the complications of lattice degeneration?

The complications of lattice degeneration are uncommon but serious. When lattice degeneration is more severe, it can cause retinal tears or detachments.

Retinal tears and detachments are medical emergencies. While a tear isn’t as serious, it can worsen and turn into a detachment. If you have any symptoms of a tear or detachment, you should go to the nearest hospital emergency room or medical facility.

How is lattice degeneration diagnosed?

A healthcare provider can diagnose lattice degeneration using certain imaging tests or specific eye exam methods. Many of the methods are part of a standard eye exam, including:

• Confrontation check (this is where your provider checks your field of vision while you cover one eye at a time).
• Visual acuity.
• Dilated exam.

What tests will be done to diagnose lattice degeneration?

These are simple tests. Some involve dilating your pupils so your provider can see into your eye more easily.

• Slit lamp exam.
• Scleral depression exam (where a provider looks for changes inside your eye by gently pushing on certain parts around the sclera).
• Fundus photography.

How is lattice degeneration treated?

Lattice degeneration usually doesn’t need treatment. The only times it does are when you’re at a much higher risk of retinal tears or detachments. In those cases, treatment aims to prevent lattice degeneration from turning into a tear or detachment.

Factors that can indicate a higher risk include:

• Family history. Having multiple family members who also had retinal tears or detachments can indicate that you have a higher risk, too.
• Your history. Your risk is higher if you had a previous retinal tear or detachment in one of your eyes (treatment would target the eye that didn’t have the tear).
• Severe nearsightedness. Severe nearsightedness may increase your risk of lattice degeneration.
• Other eye issues. Examples of these include posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) or retinal hemorrhage.

Treatment of lattice degeneration

The main procedure to treat lattice degeneration and prevent retinal complications is laser retinopexy. It uses a laser beam to create tiny scarring patterns on your retina. Those scar patterns reinforce the weakened tissue.

Complications/side effects of the treatment

Laser retinopexy may increase the chances of a wrinkle forming in your retinal tissue. That’s called macular pucker.

Fortunately, macular pucker isn’t common. But when it does happen, you may need surgery to treat it. Your eye care specialist can tell you more about any other possible issues you might experience or should watch for.

How soon after treatment will I feel better?

The recovery time is usually a couple of days. Your provider may tell you to avoid strenuous activity or exercise, and they may tell you to limit other activities until your eye fully heals. This can vary, so your provider is the best source of information that applies to your situation.

Can lattice degeneration be prevented?

Lattice degeneration isn’t preventable, but a comprehensive eye exam can help your eye care specialist identify it. You should see an eye care specialist every one to two years. You may need to see them more frequently if you have certain conditions, risk factors or circumstances that can affect your eyes. Some examples of reasons to see an eye specialist more frequently include:

• Being over age 60.
• Having Type 2 diabetes.
• A past eye injury or damage.
• A family history of eye problems.
• If you have overweight or obesity.

How long does lattice degeneration last?

Lattice degeneration causes retinal tissue thinning that’s permanent. For most people, the thinning doesn’t get worse. Some people may need treatment to stabilize thinned areas. When thinning leads to a tear or detachment, treatment can often repair those issues.

What’s the outlook for lattice degeneration?

The outlook for lattice degeneration is excellent overall. That’s because almost everyone with it will never have a problem from it. When it does cause issues, the outlook is still usually good because retinal tears or detachments are treatable, and the odds of success for a repair are very high.

When should I see my healthcare provider?

People with a higher risk of a retinal tear or detachment may need to see an eye care specialist for routine follow-up and monitoring. Usually, an eye exam every year or two is enough for this. Your eye care specialist can tell you if a more frequent follow-up schedule is a good idea for you.

When should I go to the emergency room?

While lattice degeneration doesn’t cause symptoms on its own, it can turn into a retinal tear or detachment. These are both medical emergencies, and delaying care for them can lead to permanent vision loss. If you have the symptoms of them, you should get medical attention immediately.

The symptoms of retinal tears or detachments are:

• Flashes of light (photopsia).
• Black spots or a sudden increase in floaters in your vision (a few floaters in your vision is normal).
• Darkening vision (this can look like a dark curtain that fills your visual field).
• Sudden blurred vision.

What questions should I ask my eye specialist?

There are a few questions you may want to ask your eye specialist:

• How severe is my lattice degeneration?
• What symptoms should I watch for that might indicate a tear or detachment?
• How often should I have eye exams to check for retinal changes?

How serious is lattice degeneration?

Lattice degeneration isn’t serious in most cases. Up to 1% of cases lead to a serious problem like a retinal tear or detachment.

How do you fix lattice degeneration?

The only way to repair lattice degeneration is with treatments that intentionally scar small sections of the retina. That scarring is like how a welder can heat a section of metal to bond it to another layer of metal. Similarly, laser retinopexy can bond retinal tissue together so it doesn’t break apart or lift away from the underlying eye tissue.

Can you heal lattice degeneration?

No, lattice degeneration doesn’t heal on its own, and there’s no way to heal it without medical procedures on the retinal tissue itself.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Lattice degeneration is a common issue that can affect the retinas of your eyes. While it might sound scary, it’s a harmless condition for most people. If you have lattice degeneration, talk to your eye care specialist. They can help you understand if this condition means you might have an issue in the future. They can also tell you how to recognize signs of a problem and monitor your eye for changes. They can help ease your worries so you can focus on what matters most to you.