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Case Report: Retinal Vasculitis in Two Adolescents After COVID-19 Vaccination
Shaheeda Mohamed1,2, Carmen Km Chan1,2, Chi Wai Tsang1,2
1Hong Kong Eye Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Purpose:
To report two cases of bilateral retinal vasculitis in adolescents following COVID-19 vaccination.
Study Design:
Case report.
Results:
We report the first two cases of retinal vasculitis in adolescents following COVID-19 vaccinations. Both patients received recent second-dose COVID-19 vaccinations (7 weeks and 4 weeks respectively), and presented with bilateral retinal vasculitis and vitritis. Investigations did not reveal other causes of retinal vasculitis. Both patients' retinal vasculitis settled with a short course of oral prednisolone.
Conclusion:
Although rare, the temporal association between vaccination, bilateral eye involvement, and the absence of alternative infective or inflammatory causes, makes this a plausible etiology. mRNA vaccinations may cause an autoimmune reaction via host antigenic mimicry, and systemic vasculitis has previously been described. We believe that a short interval between COVID-19 vaccination doses might be a risk factor for the development of retinal vasculitis in adolescents, and clinicians should be aware to elicit vaccination history.
