Three patients had a history of unilateral acute visual loss accompanied by clinical and fluorescein angiographic findings compatible with foveal sensory retinal detachment secondary to vitreofoveal traction. The reversibility of this early stage of idiopathic macular hole formation in all three eyes was associated with spontaneous release of vitreofoveal traction and with improvement in visual acuity. A localized detachment of the vitreous from the sensory retina in the macula with an associated vitreous condensation overlying the macula was evident in all three cases.