Optical coherence tomography characteristics of a hemorrhagic detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium after blunt trauma.

PURPOSE: To report traumatic, hemorrhagic detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium that was detected by optical coherence tomography.

DESIGN

Observational case report.

METHODS

A 17-year-old boy with hemorrhagic fundus lesions caused by blunt ocular trauma was examined by optical coherence tomography and angiography.

RESULTS

Initially, two dark red, mounded lesions were seen, with one in the macula and the other adjacent to the optic disk. The lesions blocked the fluorescence on fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography. Optical coherence tomography demonstrated dome-shaped elevations of the retinal pigment epithelium at each lesion. Four months later, the retinal pigment epithelium detachments disappeared in the tomography images, and no scarring was evident ophthalmoscopically. Small choroidal ruptures were detected in each lesion by angiography.

CONCLUSIONS

Optical coherence tomography was useful in evaluating the site of the hemorrhage in the chorioretinal layers caused by blunt ocular trauma.