Retinal Hard Exudates

  • Yellow flecks made up of lipid residues of serous leakage from damaged capillaries
  • Diabetes main cause, but also neuroretinitis, retinal vein occlusion,Von Hippel-Lindau Disease, other vascular dysplasias, radiation-induced retinal vasculopathy
  • Yellow flecks mostly between temporal vascular arcades, sometimes in distinctive circular pattern as if vessel leak were in center
  • Refer to ophthalmologist non-urgently if patient has no new symptoms, and urgently if patient has new symptoms
  • Hard exudates are indication of excessive retinal vascular permeability caused by many vision-threatening and even life-threatening disorders