Posterior Segment
Lattice Degeneration
Also known as: lattice degeneration, lattice, retinal lattice, peripheral retinal degeneration, snail-track degeneration, snail track, lattice with atrophic holes, radial perivascular lattice
Filed as: Routine
Source-cited from the record's own evidence list. Clinical content programme led by Dr Ankit Mathur, PhD, Grad Cert Ocu Thera, B.S. Optom. How the clinical content is governed
Clinical decision support only
Overview
Oval or linear bands of thinned peripheral retina lying parallel to the ora serrata, with abnormal vitreous adhesion at their margins. It is more common in myopes and raises the lifetime risk of retinal tear and rhegmatogenous detachment. An asymptomatic, stable lesion is reviewed annually with a dilated examination. A patient with new flashes, floaters or a curtain is examined the same day with scleral indentation, and a horseshoe tear or detachment is referred urgently. Snail-track degeneration is managed the same way.
Recognition
Symptoms: what patients report
- None: lattice is found at a dilated examination.
- New flashes, a shower of floaters, or a curtain are symptoms of a tear or detachment, not of lattice itself, and need same-day assessment.
Signs: what the examination shows
- Oval or linear bands of thinned retina between the equator and the vitreous base, parallel to the ora serrata, most often superior or inferior.
- Pigment clusters, yellow glistening flecks, sclerosed white vessels crossing the band, and round atrophic holes inside it.
- OCT (where the lesion can be reached): retinal thinning with liquefied vitreous over the band and abnormal vitreoretinal adhesion at its edges.
- Autofluorescence: pigmented areas dark, non-pigmented areas bright.
- Snail-track degeneration: bands of glistening yellow-white frost-like dots on the inner retina with no pigment, most often inferotemporal, often with atrophic holes.
What OptoGuide™ covers for lattice degeneration
- Pattern reasoning: what this combination of findings points to, and its differentiators
- Don't-miss risks and escalation triggers
- Management tiers with linked Australian therapeutics
- Referral urgency, specialty, and letter drafting