Central serous chorioretinopathy associated with the use of ephedra

To report three cases of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) likely related to the use of body-building products containing ephedra.

Observational case series of three patients who presented with signs and symptoms of CSC. All cases had ocular coherence tomography and fluorescein angiograms to confirm the diagnosis. All admitted to current or previous use of ephedra containing products for body building. No patient had a history of current or prior use of steroids.

The first patient presented in 2005 with a 7-month history of bilateral CSC. On careful history, the patient admitted to the use of ephedra during body-building exercises. After discontinuation of the ephedra, his CSC resolved. The second and third patients presented in 2007. Both had pigmented epithelial detachments in both eyes secondary to CSC and atrophic changes suggestive of old, resolved CSC. The second patient had admitted to the use of ephedra 3 years previously and Patient 3 was currently using an ephedra-containing body-building product. After Patient 3 discontinued the ephedra, his CSC too resolved.

We report three cases of CSC related to the use of ephedra-containing products. All three cases were chronic, atypical, and bilateral in nature with two of three cases resolving after the discontinuation of the ephedra. This may be related to the sympathomimetic properties of ephedra as reported by Michael et al for pseudoephedrine. Given these findings, we suggest that questioning about ephedra products become standard when taking histories in suspected CSC cases.