Trends in the Clinical Presentation of Primary Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachments During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of 1 full year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on clinical presentation of acute, primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). DESIGN: Single-center, retrospective observational cohort study. METHODS: Patients were divided into 2 cohorts: consecutive patients treated for primary RRD during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 9, 2020, to March 7, 2021; pandemic cohort) and patients treated during the corresponding time in previous year (March 11, 2019, to March 8, 2020; control cohort). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of patients presenting with macula-involving (mac-off) or macula-sparring (mac-on) RRD. RESULTS: A total of 952 patients in the pandemic cohort and 872 patients in the control cohort were included. Demographic factors were similar. Compared with the control cohort, a significantly greater number of pandemic cohort patients presented with mac-off RRDs ([60.92%] pandemic, [48.17%] control, P = .0001) and primary proliferative vitreoretinopathy ([15.53%] pandemic, [6.9%] control, P = .0001). Pandemic cohort patients (10.81%) had significantly higher rates of lost to follow-up compared with the control cohort (4.43%; P = .0001). Patients new to our clinic demonstrated a significant increase in mac-off RRDs in the pandemic cohort (65.35%) compared with the control cohort (50.40%; P = .0001). Pandemic cohort patients showed worse median final best-corrected visual acuity (0.30 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) compared with the control cohort (0.18 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution; P = .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with primary RRD during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely to have mac-off disease, present with primary proliferative vitreoretinopathy, be lost to follow-up, and have worse final best-corrected visual acuity outcomes.

Multimodal Imaging of Acute Foveolitis following COVID-19 Vaccination.

PURPOSE: To report a case of unilateral acute foveolitis following COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS: A case report. RESULTS: A 24-year-old woman developed a sudden blurring of vision in the left eye (LE) 5 days after receiving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Examination of the LE showed a visual acuity at 20/40, 2+ cells in the vitreous, and a small yellow-orange foveal subretinal lesion. Late-phase fluorescein angiography showed a mild diffuse retinal vascular leakage and a faint foveal hyperfluorescence. ICG angiography showed in the late-phase hypofluorescence of the centrofoveal lesion. OCT B-scan demonstrated a conical hyperreflective subfoveal lesion on the retinal pigment epithelium associated with disruption of the outer retinal layers. En-face OCT revealed granular hyperreflective specks mainly in the inner nuclear layer. Work-up results were unremarkable. The patient received oral prednisolone with subsequent full functional and anatomic recovery. CONCLUSION: Foveolitis may rarely occur as a complication of COVID-19 vaccination.