A COVID-19-Related Retinopathy Case Report

Eleonora Riotto; Vladimir Mégevand; Alexis Mégevand; Christophe Marti; Jerome Pugin; Alexandros N Stangos; Constantin J Pournaras; Gordana Sunaric Mégevand

doi:10.1159/000524195

A COVID-19-Related Retinopathy Case Report

Case Rep Ophthalmol. 2022 Apr 22;13(1):297-304. doi: 10.1159/000524195. eCollection 2022 Jan-Apr.

Authors

Eleonora Riotto¹, Vladimir Mégevand², Alexis Mégevand¹, Christophe Marti³, Jerome Pugin³, Alexandros N Stangos⁴, Constantin J Pournaras⁴, Gordana Sunaric Mégevand⁴

Affiliations

¹ University Hospitals of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
² Department of Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Department of Intensive Care, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Clinical Eye Research Centre, A. Rothschild Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland.

Abstract

The recent outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 has been declared a worldwide pandemic by the WHO. Within various multi-organ involvements, several ocular manifestations have been described. We report the case of a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 who presented with a progressive increase of bilateral cotton wool spots over a 1-week period, despite quick and complete recovery of systemic signs of the disease and no ocular symptoms. We followed the evolution of such lesions over a 3-month period. Here, we underline the importance of retinal screening even if no ocular symptom is reported. Furthermore, we demonstrate the essential role of fundus examination as a reflection of systemic vascular changes.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019; Cotton wool spots; Microvascular inflammation; Optical coherence tomography; Retina; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2.

Publication types

Case Reports