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Visual disturbance as initial presentation of hairy cell leukemia
Resmi Charalel1, Atul Jain, Leelanand Rachakonda
1Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA - USA.
Purpose:
Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare disorder that occasionally has visual symptoms after diagnosis. The authors present a case of HCL in which bilateral visual symptoms led to the initial diagnosis.
Methods:
Observational case report.
Results:
Bilateral decreased vision to 20/30 in the right eye and 20/40 in the left due to intraretinal and preretinal hemorrhages with no other systemic signs or symptoms prompted a hematologic evaluation in which HCL was found to be the causative disorder in a previously healthy 41-year-old man.
Conclusions:
The authors present a rare case in which bilateral visual complaints led to the diagnosis of HCL. Thus, though uncommon, HCL should be considered in the differential diagnosis of otherwise unexplained retinal hemorrhages.
