To assess the clinical course of submacular hemorrhage (SMH) due to various chorioretinal diseases with or without pneumatic displacement and the factors related with the final visual outcome.

The authors of the present study retrospectively reviewed the charts of 12 eyes (group 1) which underwent pneumatic displacement for SMH and the charts of 14 eyes (group 2) which did not receive pneumatic displacement. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at baseline was compared with the BCVA at 1, 3, and 6 months and on the final visit. Association between final BCVA and other clinical features was analyzed including age, baseline BCVA, duration of symptoms, and size of SMH.

In group 1, log MAR BCVA was 1.22 ± 0.66 at baseline and there was a significant BCVA improvement of 0.77 ± 0.57 at 6 months compared with baseline ( p = 0.045). On the final visit, 6 eyes (50%) had gained 2 Snellen lines or more. In group 2, BCVA was significantly improved from 1.29 ± 0.70 at baseline to 1.06 ± 0.84 at 1 month ( p = 0.045). Ten eyes (71.4%) had gained 2 Snellen lines or more on the final visit. In group 1, there were no factors correlated with final BCVA ( p > 0.05), while the final BCVA was significantly correlated with age and baseline BCVA in group 2.

Clinicians may expect conservative treatment to lead to significant improvement of BCVA in patients with SMH due to various chorioretinal diseases who did not undergo any procedures to displace the hemorrhage.