OCT findings in patients with retinopathy after watching a solar eclipse.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings in patients with solar retinopathy after watching a solar eclipse.


METHODS
Complete ocular examinations and OCT were done in 4 patients presenting with acute solar retinopathy soon after observation of an eclipse. All 4 patients repeated the examinations about 1 month and 1 year after the first visit.


RESULTS
The symptoms and fundus findings were similar in all patients; all eyes were emmetropic. However, the OCT images were different in all patients, and the alterations were at different levels. The most evident alterations shown by OCT were: a reduction in the intensity of reflectiveness of the retinal pigment epithelium in 3 cases; intraretinal nonreflective spaces between the inner retinal layers in 2 cases; increased reflectiveness of the inner retinal layers in 2 cases, and a round hyperreflective formation in the vitreous just in front of the fovea in 1 case. All these OCT alterations disappeared after 1 month.


CONCLUSIONS
The retinal damage arising soon after exposure to sunlight showed many different aspects in the OCT images of the 4 cases examined. All retinal layers seemed to be altered, but these alterations disappeared after 1 month, and the OCT findings remained the same after 1 year.
Codenotti
Marco
M
Department of Opthamology and Visual Sciences, University Hospital S Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
Patelli
Fabio
F
Brancato
Rosario
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D011859:Radiography; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012607:Scotoma / Q000209:etiology; D013472:Sunlight / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods