Predisposing factors in central serous chorioretinopathy and the natural progress of the illness

To report the results of the natural progress and predisposing factors of the patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (csr). the study comprised 34 patients diagnosed with primary central serous retinopathy and having no medication in preceding 6 months follow-up. reports of the patients were examined retrospectively. the best corrected visual acuity (bcva) with snellen chart, results of anterior slit lamp microscopy and fundus examination as well as optical coherence tomography and fundus fluorescein angiography were evaluated. statistical evaluation was performed with the spss program (spss 14.0 demo, spss inc., chicago, illinois). mean age of the patients was 33.17±6.13 years with 26 men and 8 women. a type personality was exist in 58.8% of total patients. the ratio of the patients having critical stress disorder before the illness had started was 82.4 %. distribution of the patients according to their occupations were found as: 35.3% military personnel, 20.6% policeman, 11.8% trade, 23.5% worker and 5.9% housewife. on the first examination, mean bcva of the eyes with csr was 0.59±2.04. the distribution ratio of the pathology according to the eyes were: 73.6% right eye, 23.5% left eye and 2.9% bilateral. the ratio of chronicity of the illness after 6 months follow-up period was 14.7%. mean recovery time of the patients with no chronicity was 1.90 ± 0.63 months. the most important predisposing factor in csr is stress. some biochemical changes due to stress leads to change the permeability of choroid capillaries. most of the patients are recovering in the natural progression of the illness. considering this physiopathological mechanism, further studies are necessary for the treatment of chronic and recurrent patients.