Pachychoroid pigment epitheliopathy in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral central serous chorioretinopathy

Aims To investigate the prevalence of pachychoroid pigment epitheliopathy (PPE) in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and to determine differences between patients with PPE, uncomplicated pachychoroid (UCP) and normal fellow eyes. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 536 patients with CSC. Demographic and medical data, spectral domain optical coherence tomography scans with enhanced depth imaging mode, infrared reflectance images and fundus autofluorescence images were obtained from the patients’ medical records. Results 254 (47.4%) of 536 patients had bilateral CSC. The female to male ratio was 1/2.8 in all patients with CSC. In patients with unilateral CSC (282 patients), 61% of fellow eyes had PPE, 30.8% had UCP and 8.2% were normal. There were no significant differences between patients with PPE, UCP and normal eyes in age, duration of disease, sex, presence of systemic hypertension, steroid use, psychopharmacological medication use, refractive error or central foveal thickness. Eyes with PPE and UCP did not differ regarding subfoveal choroidal thickness. In eyes with PPE (172 eyes), 77.3% had retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) bumps and 43% had pigment epithelium detachment. Conclusion PPE is common in fellow eyes of patients with CSC. There is no difference between PPE and UCP regarding demographic characteristics and medical features.