Severe COVID-19 and Retina: Are There Any Retinal Manifestations?

Purpose To investigate whether there are retinal lesions associated with severe COVID-19. Methods We studied 232 symptomatic subjects aged 18 – 65 years who had severe COVID-19 and had received treatment. The evaluations included ophthalmological examinations, optical coherence tomography (OCT), imaging modalities with near infrared reflectance (NIR), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), and fundus photography (FP). Results The mean age of the patients was 49 years, and 67.6% of them were men. There were no findings of microhemorrhage, cotton wool spots (CWS), vitritis, or retinitis in the examination and imaging. Conclusions This study indicates that retinal involvement as a complication associated with COVID-19 is questionable, although some reports have demonstrated a relationship that may occur secondary to existing systemic diseases.