DR. RAKHI P DCRUZ

Abstract

Purtscher’s retinopathy(PR) was first described by Austrian ophthalmologist Otmar Purtscher in 1910. Purtscher encountered a case of traumatic retinopathy following head trauma which was associated with vision loss. He initially coined it as as ‘angiopathia retinae traumatica’. (1) Purtscher’s retinopathy is classically a retinal manifestation of mechanical trauma elsewhere in the body and presents as an acute visual loss. Estimated incidence is about 0.24 persons per million per year. Condition is bilateral in around 60% of the cases (2) However since the retinal signs are transient, if the diagnosis is initially missed, the correct diagnosis can only be inferred retrospectively.

We herein report a case of Purtscher’s retinopathy which presented to us 1 week after motor vehicle accident but with rapid visual recovery within 1 week of initiation of intravenous methylprednisolone.