Surgical Anatomy of Vitreous

The vitreous body occupies a spherical space surrounded by the retina, lens, and pars plana of the eye. It consists primarily of water (98%) and macromolecules (2%), specifically collagen and hyaluronan. Vitreous plays an important role in the development of many common retinal pathologies including proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and, via anomalous posterior vitreous detachment (APVD), retinal detachment (RD), macular holes, and macular pucker. Therefore, understanding vitreous anatomy is important to improve surgical approaches and techniques.