A 48-year-old woman with redness, photophobia, and eye discomfort

Abstract

A 48-year-old white woman presented to the Bascom Palmer emergency department with redness, photophobia, and discomfort in the left eye of 10 days' duration. Two months previously, she had undergone pars plana vitrectomy with scleral buckle and C3F8 gas at an outside practice to repair a rhegmatogenous detachment. The patient reported, based on conversations with her retinal surgeon, that a dense cataract had begun to develop "almost immediately" after surgery, explaining why her visual acuity did not significantly improve after the gas bubble reabsorbed. Past ocular history was otherwise unremarkable. She had no known chronic medical conditions, and her surgical history included two cesarean sections, functional bladder surgery, and a tonsillectomy. She did not use scheduled medications and had no known allergies. Her family history was notable only for hypertension. She worked as a registered nurse and did not smoke, drink, or use intravenous drugs. Review of systems was negative for arthralgias as well as for gastrointestinal, dermatologic, respiratory, or genitourinary symptoms.