Pseudophakic cystoid macular oedema (PCMO) ‒ or Irvine-Gass syndrome ‒ was first described in 1953 in patients with unexplained sight loss after uneventful cataract surgery (Guo et al, 2015). Possibly caused by iris trauma, prostaglandin release and/or tractional force on the macula, PCMO results in disruption of the blood-retinal barrier, with fluid accumulating in extracellular retinal spaces, forming multiple cystic areas of fluid in the macula (Vukicevic et al, 2012). Around 80 per cent of symptomatic patients experience spontaneous improvement by three to 12 months (Yonekawa and Kim, 2012).