ObjectiveTo observe the changes of retinal thickness in idiopathic macular hole eyes after vitrectomy combined with internal limiting membrane peeling. MethodsThe study included 40 eyes in 40 consecutive patients with idiopathic full-thickness macular holes who underwent vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane peeling. There were 10 males (10 eyes) and 30 female (30 eyes), the average age was (63.60±6.26) years, the average disease duration was (6.00±3.53) months. All patients were examined by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography to measure the foveal retinal thickness, parafoveal retinal thickness and every quadrant in 1, 3, 6 months after surgery. ResultsCompared foveal retinal thickness after 1 month with 3 month, the difference was significant (F=4.527, P=0.013). But foveal retinal thickness were not significantly different in 3 months and 6 months after surgery (F=2.031, P=0.971). The difference of average parafoveal retinal thickness between 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after surgery was not significant (F=2.011, P=0.139). The retinal thickness of the operated eyes were not significantly different from the normal fellow eyes in 1 month after surgery (t=0.651, P=0.519). And the foveal retinal thickness of the operated eyes and the normal fellow eyes are significantly different in 3 months and 6 months after surgery (t=-2.563, -2.524; P=0.015, 0.016). The thickness of temporal were thicker than other quadrant in 1 month, 3months and 6 months after surgery (t=-3.701, -4.612, -4.125; P=0.014, 0.006, 0.009). ConclusionThere is a transient increase in the foveal retinal thickness after macular hole surgery.