An otherwise healthy 13-year-old Japanese boy presented with reduced central vision in his left eye, 3 days after suffering a blunt trauma from being hit by a fishing sinker. Assessment of BCVA showed only the ability to perceive hand motions in the left eye compared to 20/13.3 in the right eye. The intraocular pressure was 8 mmHg in both eyes. The anterior segment of the left eye showed hyphema and laceration of the bulbar conjunctiva. No traumatic cataract or rupture of the globe was seen. Fundus examination of the left eye showed a subretinal hemorrhage extending from the posterior pole to the inferior midperiphery and a slight vitreous hemorrhage (Fig. ). No retinal tear or retinal detachment was seen. In contrast, the right eye appeared normal. Swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT; DRI OCT-1 Atlantis, Topcon Medical Systems, Tokyo, Japan) showed the presence of a thick submacular hemorrhage in the left eye (Fig. ). Attempts to measure the retinal sensitivity using a microperimeter (MAIA; CenterVue, Padova, Italy) failed, as it was below the detection limits of the instrument (Fig. ). We therefore diagnosed submacular hemorrhage in the left eye, due to choroidal rupture following blunt trauma.\nTwo days after the initial visit, we carried out anterior chamber lavage, vitrectomy, subretinal injection of rt-PA (GRTPA®, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Japan) and air tamponade on the left eye under general anesthesia. This operation was performed using the methods reported by Kimura et al. []. Briefly, after performing a 25-gauge micro-incision vitrectomy, 4,000 IU rt-PA in 0.1 ml was injected subretinally using a 38-gauge subretinal infusion needle (MedOne, Sarasota, FL) to liquefy the submacular hemorrhage. Before completing the operation, fluid-air exchange was performed. The patients remained facedown for 3 days after surgery to displace the submacular hemorrhage. The day after the operation, most of the submacular hemorrhage had moved to the inferior periphery.\nOne month after the operation, the BCVA of left eye was 20/1000 and we observed cataract formation, thin remnants of the submacular hemorrhage and juxtafoveal choroidal rupture (Fig. ). We then carried out phacoemulsification and aspiration, intraocular lens implantation and intravitreal injection of 0.05 ml bevacizumab (Avastin®, Hoffmann-la Roche, Basel, Switzerland) in the left eye under general anesthesia. Two months after the second operation, the submacular hemorrhage had totally disappeared (Fig. ) and the BCVA in the left eye had improved to 20/40. As shown in Fig. , the retinal sensitivity had markedly improved.
A previously healthy, 19-year-old male presented for a visit in our department at 15–20 National Ophthalmology Institute with complaints of bilateral decreased visual acuity. He reported a blunt trauma on both eyes 8 days before due to resistance band (Fig. ) used for strengths exercises at home. He went through ophthalmological examination in another department the day of the trauma. At the visit, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in right eye (RE) was 20/400 and 20/1,000 in the left eye. Slit-lamp examination did not show any scleral wound, corneal wound, or traumatism of the lens. Air-puffed intraocular pressure (IOP) was 14 mm Hg in the RE and 16 mm Hg in the left eye (LE). Air-puffed IOP device was used due to the risk of unknown scleral perforation in this traumatic context. Devices were cleaned with sanitizing spray after each examination, and a time-period of 15 min was respected between each patient examination in accordance with Hygiene Department guidelines. Fundus examination showed bilateral preretinal hemorrhages not allowing further examination. B-ultrasonography revealed no evidence of retinal tears or retinal detachment. No treatment has been started. The patient could not be referred initially to a reference center due to national lockdown while COVID-19 was spreading. One week later, BCVA was below 20/200 on RE and 20/1,000 on LE. IOP was 12 mm Hg on both eyes. Fundus examination after a 7-day delay recorded inferotemporal rupture of Bruch membrane on RE and inferior diffuse preretinal hemorrhages on both eyes. Fundus autofluorescence demonstrated increased autofluorescence in traumatic pigment epitheliopathy (Fig. ). Peripheral retinal examination was normal. Spectral-domain OCT (Heidelberg Engineering Inc., Heidelberg, Germany) showed bilateral increased reflectivity, disruption of the inner/OS (IS/OS), and loss of the external limiting membrane in the macular area (Fig. ). A full-thickness thin macular hole was present only on RE. Retinal thickness was decreased below 200 μm at the sites of the lesions. We decided to introduce oral steroids therapy 40 mg a day. The patient has been notified of the poor prognosis. The 6-week follow-up revealed a BCVA at 20/80 on RE and 20/63 on LE. The fundus examination showed a slight decrease of preretinal hemorrhages on both eyes. Spectral-domain OCT (Heidelberg Engineering Inc., Heidelberg, Germany) showed a spontaneous closure of macular hole on RE, and however, outer retinal layers remained atrophic on both eyes (Fig. ). No macular hole was present on left eye. The subject had given his written informed consent for publication of its case.