COVID 19 - can it cause partial blindness?
There are anecdotal reports that some people have lost part of their vision after a bout with COVID-19.
Now, correlation doesn't equal causation, and there's no concrete evidence that supports temporary or permanent blindness as an effect of the virus.
However, it's difficult to explain how two relatively young people with no prior eye problems suddenly developed partial blindness in one or both their eyes after recovering from COVID.
That's the situation with two of Dr Amin Hegar's patients. The ophthalmologist told us today that it's a strange case, and almost unheard of, even in international literature. But, as he explained, we are learning new and strange things about the virus every day.
Dr. Amin Hegar, Ophthalmologist
"I have had two patients who have lost vision as a result of being infected, contracted the disease. They have not been in the hospital, they had mild symptoms but as a result they have had loss of vision. One was a patient from Orange Walk, a 33 year old male and he said that after being treated with COVID he developed blindness. He has tunnel vision and barely walking. He is supposed to come back to see the neurologist. His vision is very poor and we want to make sure it is a result of COVID or he had another disease before. We believe it is an optic neuritis which can develop as a disease as a problem with this virus. I don't know yet how much he will recover, so we are treating him with steroids and other medications to see how much of his vision he can recover. I have asked colleagues from the US and Guatemala and they have had some cases which they are not sure yet to document as a result, but we believe it is affecting the optic nerve. The other patient is a female patient almost the same age from San Ignacio, a doctor, she developed loss of vision in her left eye while the other patient was in both eyes. This patient is only one eye and she's not so bad. After treating her with steroids, she is recovering. In the first patient, I couldn't see any problem with the eye when examining inside the eye so when they have optic nerve, neuritis damaged, we don't see it until many months after. In her case, I saw some lesions in the retina which has been improving. She is supposed to come back next week to see if she recovers. Apart from that, I haven't heard from any other colleagues seeing any cases in Belize."
Reporter
"And they develop this blindness while they were still positive or until after they tested negative."
Dr. Amin Hegar, Ophthalmologist
"A few days after they started to notice it affecting them. Apart from that one of the signs is a red eye, conjunctivitis which has been well described in this pandemic. The patient would develop a red eye, but any virus can give you a conjunctivitis, but they don't suffer any loss of vision as a result. About 1% would develop conjunctivitis."
Dr Hegar said that while no patients have reported any such effect while being positive, in the event it does happen, they will need to be treated at the hospital rather than expose those at the eye clinic.
Dr. Amin Hegar, Ophthalmologist
"If they are hospitalized or under quarantine, then of course I don't see them. We just advise and prescribe medicine to treat them with steroid. If they are negative then they come to a full examination, but I haven't been called to the hospital to the patients who have been complaining. Up to now, no patients have been complaining about loss of vision while in the hospital, it is afterwards when they are negative."
Reporter
"When you do certain tests you have to be close to the patient?"
Dr. Amin Hegar, Ophthalmologist
"Yes, very close that is why I have that shield there to protect my eyes. I have to go very close and ask the patient to please don't say anything or talk while I'm getting close to them. I think besides the dentist, we ophthalmologists are the second profession that come in very close contact with the patient. If you notice here I am wearing two masks, N95 and a surgical mask for extra protection. If they have signs and symptoms, of course we ask them to sanitize as they come in. If they have fever, people can drink aspirin and Tylenol, we test them here and they don't have any fever. When the patient is coughing, I ask them to come a next day or if I see them having much of a problem, I see them very quickly and don't get close to them."
While there are little to no online reports discussing blindness in COVID-19 patients, one case report from the August 2020 edition of the Rhode Island Medical Journal documents a woman in her 50's who experienced severe vision loss in her right eye after testing positive for the virus. She described the visual disturbance as a white cloud and blurriness. The day after her eye exam, however, she reported a 50% improvement.
