Prepapillary Vascular Loops

Preretinal or prepapillary vascular loops are isolated, usually unilateral, congenital anomalies of the retina. They occur both in the arterial and the venous system, but are much more common on the arterial side. Lambert et al. (1983) reported a family in which a 62-year-old black man had prepapillary vascular loop on the right; his 31-year-old asymptomatic daughter had 'a superior temporal artery distribution that spiraled around the superior temporal vein in several places;' her 28-year-old brother had a right temporal artery that spiraled around its attendant vein twice before bifurcating; and her 6-year-old daughter had 2 small vascular loops at the interior nasal margin of the left optic disc. Grossniklaus et al. (1986) observed prepapillary vascular loops in a mother and daughter.