Small unilateral foveal hemorrhages in young adults

We studied nine cases of single, small, intraretinal foveal hemorrhages in one eye each of nine young adults during the last five years. The patients ranged in age from 18 to 47 years and were otherwise healthy. Four patients gave a history of strenuous exercise, most often weight lifting. The visual acuities ranged from 6/6 (20/20) to 6/60 (20/200) and most patients complained of a small central or paracentral scotoma. Fluorescein angiography did not show any retinal or choroidal vascular abnormalities and recovery of visual acuity was excellent in all patients available for follow-up examination during a period of two weeks to six months.