The Eyes Have It; More Ocular Problems Are Linked to COVID-19

It didn’t take long for physicians to notice that patients with COVID-19 also came down with pink eye more often than patients who did not have the virus. According to information presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans and reported by MedPage Today this week, however, patients with COVID-19 are also more likely to have photophobia, retinal hemorrhage, and optic neuritis. Those experiencing long-haul disease, in particular, seem to be at greater risk for neuro-ophthalmic symptoms. Such findings underscore the necessity for urgent care providers who treat patients with or who have recently recovered from the virus to look beyond the lungs for evidence of damage that can be addressed before long-term complications set in.