[Chalcosis oculi].

PURPOSE: To report on a patient including measurements of retinal changes in ocular chalcosis.

PATIENT AND

METHODS

After having suffered an open-globe injury presumably due to a small foreign body after a grenade explosion, a 30-year-old man presented six years later with ocular chalcosis including sunflower cataract, a multitude of tiny brownish particles in the anterior vitreous, a fibrillar degeneration of the posterior vitreous and brilliant patches overriding the foveal region. The patches were measured by confocal scanning laser tomography (HRT) and optical coherence tomography (OCT).

RESULTS

Besides an acquired cyandyschromatopsia, psychophysical and electrophysiologic tests were unremarkable. Vision was 20/20. The central patches measured 200 to 700 microns in diameter (HRT) and 150 to 200 microns in height above the inner retinal surface (HRT and OCT).

DISCUSSION: With exception of a Kayser-Fleischer ring of the cornea the patient presents all morphologic signs of ocular chalcosis. Although the observed patches on the central retina in ocular chalcosis are described in the literature, their nature is not known.