TY - JOUR
T1 - Ischemic retinal events after COVID-19 vaccination
AU - Priluck, Aaron Zachariah
AU - Arevalo, Jose Fernando
AU - Pandit, Ravi
N1 - Funding Information:
No funding or grant support. The following authors have no financial disclosures: AP, JFA, RP. All authors attest that they meet the current ICMJE criteria for Authorship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Purpose: We report 2 cases of ischemic retinal events occurring soon after administration of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. To our knowledge, these are the first reports of isolated ischemic retinal events occurring after COVID-19 vaccination. Observations: A 57-year-old female had new onset floaters of the left eye within days of her second Moderna COVID-19 vaccination, which progressively worsened prompting her to present for evaluation. She was diagnosed with a branch retinal vein occlusion in the left eye. A 20-year-old female presented with persistent central scotomata in both eyes, which she first noticed two days after her Johnson & Johnson/Jannsen COVID-19 vaccination. She was diagnosed with acute macular neuroretinopathy of both eyes. Conclusions and Importance: The potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are still being established; however, there has been concern over pro-thrombotic events with these vaccines, with most concerns directed toward the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. We observed likely transient pro-thrombotic retinal milieu in patients who received these vaccines though it remains unclear whether there is a shared mechanism between systemic response to the COVID-19 spike protein and the highly pro-thrombotic state seen in COVID-19 infections. In the case of our patients, we postulate their immunologic responses to the vaccines – and possibly a resultant pro-thrombotic state – may have precipitated their ischemic retinal events. We thus recommend that patients with ocular symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination undergo comprehensive ophthalmologic evaluation.
AB - Purpose: We report 2 cases of ischemic retinal events occurring soon after administration of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. To our knowledge, these are the first reports of isolated ischemic retinal events occurring after COVID-19 vaccination. Observations: A 57-year-old female had new onset floaters of the left eye within days of her second Moderna COVID-19 vaccination, which progressively worsened prompting her to present for evaluation. She was diagnosed with a branch retinal vein occlusion in the left eye. A 20-year-old female presented with persistent central scotomata in both eyes, which she first noticed two days after her Johnson & Johnson/Jannsen COVID-19 vaccination. She was diagnosed with acute macular neuroretinopathy of both eyes. Conclusions and Importance: The potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are still being established; however, there has been concern over pro-thrombotic events with these vaccines, with most concerns directed toward the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. We observed likely transient pro-thrombotic retinal milieu in patients who received these vaccines though it remains unclear whether there is a shared mechanism between systemic response to the COVID-19 spike protein and the highly pro-thrombotic state seen in COVID-19 infections. In the case of our patients, we postulate their immunologic responses to the vaccines – and possibly a resultant pro-thrombotic state – may have precipitated their ischemic retinal events. We thus recommend that patients with ocular symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination undergo comprehensive ophthalmologic evaluation.
KW - COVID-19 vaccine
KW - J&J
KW - Johnson & Johnson Janssen
KW - Moderna Pfizer
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Vaccination
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ajoc.2022.101540
DO - 10.1016/j.ajoc.2022.101540
M3 - Article
C2 - 35465337
AN - SCOPUS:85130117101
SN - 2451-9936
VL - 26
JO - American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports
JF - American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports
M1 - 101540
ER -