Bilateral Retinopathy and Optic Neuropathy Associated with Systemic Sclerosis

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To report a rare case of bilateral retinopathy and optic neuropathy in a patient of systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods

Retrospective case report.

Results

A 30-year-old South Indian lady presented with bilateral pale disc oedema and telangiectatic disc vessels and bilateral drusen-like deposits (DLDs) in the macula. Fundus fluorescein angiography additionally revealed microaneurysmal dilatation and leakage from peripheral retinal vasculature and patchy choroidal ischemia. She had defective colour vision (OS) and a central scotoma with enlarged blind spot (OD) and centrocecal scotoma (OS). Systemic features and a strongly positive anticentromere antibody led to the diagnosis of limited cutaneous SSc with a score of 12 on the ACR/EULAR criteria.

Conclusions

We describe a rare case of bilateral retinopathy with DLDs and bilateral optic neuropathy in a non-hypertensive patient who was not previously diagnosed as SSc. A prior association of DLDs have not been described in SSc (PubMed Search).

Keywords:

• Systemic sclerosis
• drusen-like deposits
• anticentromere antibody
• retinopathy
• optic neuropathy

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.