Acute Unilateral Central Serous Chorioretinopathy after Immunization with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine: A Case Report and Literature Review

ABSTRACT

Introduction

A 43-year-old Caucasian male presented to our ophthalmology clinic with blurry vision and metamorphopsia in his right eye, 24 hours after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Methods

Clinical examination and imaging tests were consistent with acute unilateral central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) that completely resolved after 2 months without any treatment. He had no significant ophthalmic or medical history. He also lacked the classical risk factors for CSCR such as recent psychosocial stressors, Type-A personality traits, history of exogenous steroid use, connective tissue disorders and obstructive sleep apnea.

Results

This appears to be only the second reported case of CSCR, temporally associated with a recombinant COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. We also present a summary of published reports demonstrating intraocular complications associated with the novel recombinant COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

Conclusion

Findings in this report should not deter COVID-19 vaccinations given the rarity of aforementioned ocular complications and the greater benefit of protection from COVID-19 infection. Medical practitioners, however, should remain mindful of potential ocular complications, given the greater likelihood of occurrence with increasing vaccination booster rates.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse event
• Central serous chorioretinopathy
• COVID-19
• CSCR
• mRNA vaccine
• Pfizer–BioNTech

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mr. Prateepan Varatharajullu (Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland) for his contributions with graphic design.

Disclosure Statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The authors declare no financial support has been received regarding this work.