Serpiginous choroiditis in a referral clinic in India: visual field changes and clinical correlates

To report the visual field changes in patients with serpiginous choroiditis as seen in a referral clinic in India.

A retrospective noncomparative case series was conducted. Twenty-nine eyes of 17 patients who were diagnosed with serpiginous choroiditis were included in the study. Clinical findings were recorded. Visual field was measured with a Humphrey visual field analyzer. Information obtained was entered into SPSS 17.0 and analyzed.

There was a male preponderance (8:2). Age at presentation ranged from 14 to 53 years. Eleven subjects (64.7%) had bilateral involvement at presentation. Mean visual acuity improved to 0.35 after treatment. Visual field changes were seen in 28 eyes and the mean deviation value was maintained after treatment (-8.5, 7.19 SD). Multiple foci of defects (usually central or paracentral scotoma co-existing with isolated field defects in the nasal or temporal field) were the commonest form of visual field defect detected.

Patients with serpiginous choroiditis had a stable visual field defects after 6 months of treatment. The need for visual field monitoring in these patients is underscored.