An Unusual Case of Unilateral Maculopathy

Abstract

A 44-year-old male presented with unilateral sudden onset reduced visual acuity. The optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan demonstrated submacular fluid with thickening and hyper-reflectivity of the outer retinal layers, together with subfoveal retinal pigment epithelial hyper-reflectivity corresponding to a small area of foveal interdigitation zone/ellipsoid zone (IZ/EZ) loss in the detached retina. An OCT 4 months later showed resolution of the submacular fluid, but the IZ/EZ loss persisted with thinning of the outer nuclear layer, resulting in a poor visual outcome. The clinical findings most likely represent a case of unilateral acute idiopathic maculopathy; however, the OCT features and poor visual outcome are not typical. Differential diagnoses include acute solar maculopathy, central serous chorioretinopathy, poppers maculopathy, whiplash maculopathy, and acute retinal pigment epitheliitis.