A Systematic Review of Ocular Complications Following Different Types of Covid-19 Vaccines

More than 6 million deaths from the novel coronavirus, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, have prompted the development of several prophylactic vaccines of COVID-19. This systematic review summarizes the ocular complications of various COVID-19 vaccinations, diseases diagnosed, treatment, and risk factors.

The search was done in PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), and Google Scholar databases. Manifestations were classified depending on the type of vaccines and the interval between vaccination and the onset of symptoms. Other data such as patients' age, gender, underlying diseases, and follow-up data were also extracted.

Initially, 10,242 articles were identified and 76 articles were eligible that among them 107 cases were reported. Ocular complications were diagnosed more often in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca) recipients than in others.

This systematic review highlights a wide range of ocular complications reported after COVID-19 vaccination, the most common of which is uveitis. While most cases were mild and self-limiting, some involved reactivation of preexisting inflammatory diseases. These findings emphasize the importance of postvaccination ocular surveillance. This is particularly important in individuals with a history of ocular inflammation and suggests a potential immunological mechanism that requires further investigation.