Case Report: Retinal vasculitis in two adolescents after COVID-19 vaccination

Purpose To report two cases of bilateral retinal vasculitis in adolescents following COVID-19 vaccination. Study Design Case report. Results We report the first two cases of retinal vasculitis in adolescents following COVID-19 vaccinations. Both patients received recent second-dose COVID-19 vaccinations (7 weeks and 4 weeks respectively), and presented with bilateral retinal vasculitis and vitritis. Investigations did not reveal other causes of retinal vasculitis. Both patients' retinal vasculitis settled with a short course of oral prednisolone. Conclusion Although rare, the temporal association between vaccination, bilateral eye involvement, and the absence of alternative infective or inflammatory causes, makes this a plausible etiology. mRNA vaccinations may cause an autoimmune reaction via host antigenic mimicry, and systemic vasculitis has previously been described. We believe that a short interval between COVID-19 vaccination doses might be a risk factor for the development of retinal vasculitis in adolescents, and clinicians should be aware to elicit vaccination history.

Automated summary

This study reports two cases of bilateral retinal vasculitis in adolescents following COVID-19 vaccination. It suggests a possible association between mRNA vaccinations and the development of autoimmune-related eye diseases. Clinicians should be aware of the potential risk of retinal vasculitis in adolescents after COVID-19 vaccination.