Evaluation of acute effects of pulmonary involvement and hypoxia on retina and choroid in coronavirus disease 2019: An optic coherence tomography study.

PURPOSE: We investigated the acute subclinical choroidal and retinal changes caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with and without pulmonary involvement, using spectral domain optic coherence tomography. METHODS: This prospective case-control study included COVID-19 patients: 50 with pulmonary involvement and 118 with non-pulmonary involvement. All patients were examined 1 month after recovering from COVID-19. The changes were followed using optic coherence tomography parameters such as choroidal and macular thickness and retinal nerve fibre layer and ganglion cell complex measurements. RESULTS: All choroidal thicknesses in the pulmonary involvement group were lower than in the non-pulmonary involvement group and the subfoveal choroidal thickness differed significantly (p=0.036). Although there were no significant differences between the central and average macular thicknesses in the two groups, they were slightly thicker in the pulmonary involvement group (p=0.152 and p=0.180, respectively). A significant decrease was detected in the pulmonary involvement group in all ganglion cell complex segments, except for the outer nasal inferior segment (p<0.05). In addition, a thinning tendency was observed in all retinal nerve fibre layer quadrants in the pulmonary involvement group compared to the non-pulmonary involvement group. CONCLUSION: In COVID-19 patients with pulmonary involvement, subclinical choroidal and retinal changes may occur due to hypoxia and ischemia in the acute period. These patients may be predisposed to ischemic retinal and optic nerve diseases in the future. Therefore, COVID-19 patients with pulmonary involvement should be followed for ophthalmological diseases.

Nasal vein occlusion after COVID-19: A case report.

To present a case of nasal vein occlusion that has not been reported after the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. A 53-year-old patient reported a complaint of floaters after a recent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. His best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/20 for both the eyes. On examination, a flame-shaped hemorrhage was observed in the left eye around the infero-nasal area adjacent to the optic disc. Temporal branch vein occlusion has been widely reported in association with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We emphasize that nasal vein occlusions triggered by Covid-19, which do not cause vision loss, should also be considered.