Acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy

Acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy, abbreviated APMPPE, is a rare eye disease that mainly affects Caucasian people aged 20–30 years. Both sexes are affected. In this disease, central vision in either one or both eyes is affected or lost, due to a build up of fluid and inflammation at the back of the eye (the retina).

In approximately one-third of patients, symptoms of fever, myalgia, headache, and malaise are noted prior to the onset of ocular symptoms.

The disorder is characterized by the sudden appearance of multiple, yellow and white, flat inflammatory lesions at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium.

APMPPE is one of the eye diseases under the Uveitis umbrella.

Symptoms include visual disturbances, such as moving striped lines, flashes of light, and floaters, blood cells which appear black and are debris from the retina. APMPPE can cause blurred vision, pain at the back of the eyes, headaches, and eye redness. A yellow, white or light brown opaque cluster of small circles is seen in the central vision. This cluster appears black in the dark.

Fluorescein angiography can be used to display the active and inactive lesions.

The disease may be treated with steroid therapy or with immunosuppressants.