[Granulomatous process of the optic papilla as an initial sign of systemic sarcoidosis]

Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatosis disease of unknown cause that may involve many ocular structures in about one third of cases. The findings of a posterior uveitis include vitritis, retinal periphlebitis, chorioretinal infiltrates, serpiginouschoroiditis, optic nerve atrophy and edema or granulomatous infiltration of the papilla. The central nervous system is clinically affected in 5 to 15% of cases. Despite several dozen published case reports of sarcoidoses of the optic nerve, direct infiltration of this structure is considered rare. We describe herein the case of 25-year-old white man whose only symptom of systemic sarcoidosis was optic nerve granuloma.