Scleritis and Episcleritis following Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Vaccination

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines have been reported to have ocular side effects including scleritis and episcleritis.

Purpose

To report scleritis and episcleritis within a month following administration of COVID-19 vaccine.

Methods

Retrospective case series.

Results

15 eyes of 12 consecutive patients with scleritis and episcleritis from March 2021 to September 2021 were included. The mean time of onset of symptoms in patients with scleritis was 15.7 days (range, 4–30) and for episcleritis it was 13.2 days (range 2–30). Patients received COVISHIELD™ (10 patients) and COVAXIN™ (2 patients). Five patients had denovo inflammation and seven had recurrent inflammation. Episcleritis patients were treated with topical steroids and systemic COX2 inhibitors while patients with scleritis were treated with topical steroids/oral steroids/antiviral medications depending on the aetiology.

Conclusion

Scleritis and episcleritis following COVID-19 vaccination are milder and do not require intensive immunosuppression except in rare cases.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 vaccines
• scleritis
• episcleritis
• COVISHIELD^TM
• COVAXIN^TM
• topical steroids

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.