The Eyes Have It: Yellow-White Things in the Retina

Yellow-White Thing	Distinctive Ophthalmoscopic Features	Mechanism	Common Associated Conditions
Hard Exudate	Deep yellow with sharp margins, often circinate	Leakage from pre-capillary arterioles	Diabetes, hypertension, von Hippel Lindau disease, radiation
Cotton Wool Spot	Fluffy gray-white; usually near optic disc	Micro-infarction	Hypertension, diabetes, connective tissue disease, HIV
Retinal Infiltrate	Near retinal vessels	Clump of leukocytes, sometimes forming granulomas, with organisms and necrotic retina	Sarcoid; leukemia; infection with candida, CMV, herpes simplex or zoster, lues
Retinal Drusen	Clusters of yellow-orange spots, usually centered around fovea	Metabolic debris from retinal pigment epithelium	Age-related macular degeneration
Chorioretinal Atrophy	Mostly white often with flecks of black pigment	Focal absence of retina and choroid	Toxoplasmosis, histoplasmosis, trauma, photocoagulation, congenital
Intraluminal Plaque	Found at bifurcations; yellow means cholesterol-fibrin ("Hollenhorst plaque") white means calcium or talc	Embolism	Cervical carotid atherostenosis, calcified cardiac valve, IV drug abuse
Myelinated Nerve Fibers	Feathery white clump usually connected to optic disc	Extension of myelin onto retinal ganglion cell axons	None


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