A 10-year-old boy presented to a local doctor with a sudden decrease of vision and a central scotoma in the right eye two days after being hit in that eye with a wooden stick. A hemorrhage was found in the fundus at that time, so the patient was referred to our hospital, where a hemorrhage was observed in the fovea (). Corrected visual acuity was 20/70 and intraocular pressure was 12 mmHg OD. Optical coherence tomography scanning of the right eye showed submacular hemorrhage (). We performed paracentesis (0.3 mL) under general anesthesia to reduce the intraocular pressure. Next, we injected tPA (12.5 μg in 0.05 mL) into the vitreous cavity and waited 15 minutes for the hemorrhage to dissolve. We then performed a further paracentesis (0.1 mL), followed by injection of pure sulfur hexafluoride (SF6, 0.3 mL) into the vitreous cavity. After surgery, we instructed the patient to maintain a prone position as much as possible for a week. One day later, the hemorrhage had started to move out of the fovea, revealing a choroidal rupture beneath (). We considered this choroidal rupture to be the cause of the hemorrhage.\nThe macula was not damaged () and visual acuity improved to 20/16 by four months and 20/13 by seven months after the above treatment. The submacular hemorrhage had been successfully displaced out of the fovea. In spite of the remaining choroidal rupture, the patient has not complained of any symptoms, including metamorphopsia, after 3 years of follow-up.
A 43-year-old married Syrian woman presented at the age of 40 with distortion of central vision in the right eye. Choroidal dystrophy was suspected in Damascus (Syria) ( and ). Rheumatology and infectious workup was negative (syphilis, tuberculosis, anti-double-stranded DNA, anti-single-stranded DNA, rheumatoid factor). CNV was also detected in the macular area in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and intravitreal injections were advised. She subsequently received three monthly intravitreal ranibizumab injections in Barcelona (Spain) (). Past ocular history revealed myopia of 2.5 D as per patient recollection. She had undergone bilateral refractive surgery (excimer laser 5 years ago followed by laser in situ keratomileusis [LASIK] 3 years ago). Medical history was negative. There was a strong family history of myopia and no parental consanguinity. Fifteen months after initial right eye involvement, the patient expressed the same symptoms in the left eye, such as seeing broken lines and asymmetric faces. She was advised to undergo treatment for CNV in the macular region. She received one injection in Beirut (Lebanon), and subsequently, three monthly injections in Dubai to the left eye. She reported further worsening of vision after each injection. Consultation in London (UK) revealed a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/80 in the right eye and 20/30 in the left eye. Dilated fundoscopy revealed bilateral areas of vertically linear atrophy, more extensive in the right eye, without subretinal fluid or hemorrhage by optical coherence tomography. Fundus autofluorescence imaging revealed areas of reduced autofluorescence corresponding to these areas of atrophy. The reported clinical impression then was myopic chorioretinal degeneration versus lacquer crack-associated myopic degeneration. She was advised to have regular checkup without intravitreal injections as long as the macula stays dry. The patient was frustrated because of both inability to pinpoint a definite diagnosis and gradual decline in vision bilaterally. Nine months later, she initially presented to our clinic with 20/200 visual acuity. Fundoscopy revealed definite widening of the vertical macular choroidal rupture bilaterally (). Stippled changes in the retinal pigment epithelium were observed. Peau d’orange appearance was not present. The patient was emmetropic without keratoconus on corneal topography. Axial length measurement with the IOL Master (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany) was 27.35 mm in the right eye and 27.31 mm in the left eye. Keratometry readings were 38.6 D in the right eye and 38.2 D in the left eye. The skin of the neck had tiny pinkish papules suspicious for early goose flesh (). Two separate dermatology consultations and skin biopsies did not favor the diagnosis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum. Even further widening of the choroidal rupture occurred 9 months after presentation. Our working diagnosis was lacquer crack from high myopia (without pseudoxanthoma elasticum) () possibly initiated by LASIK and exacerbated by ocular rubbing and intravitreal injections (). The patient was instructed to avoid ocular rubbing, head-down position, and intravitreal injection (unless an exudative component was present) and to have prior paracentesis before any future intravitreal injections.