Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-4-2025

Comments

This article is the author's final published version in International Journal of Retina and Vitreous, Volume 11, Issue 1, Article Number 134.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40942-025-00760-8. Copyright © The Author(s) 2025.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To describe a case of inadvertent methylene blue use during pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for an epiretinal membrane (ERM).

CASE: A 69-year-old man presented with 1 day of severe vision loss in his left eye. Two days prior to presentation, he had undergone PPV that was complicated by accidental methylene blue use. Visual acuity (VA) at presentation to our institution was CF from his baseline VA of 20/60. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) demonstrated diffuse hyperreflectivity and thickening of the inner retinal layers. The patient was started on oral prednisone with no improvement. On postoperative month 1, VA was HM. OCT showed disruption of the inner retinal architecture, inner retinal layer thinning and focal disruption of the outer retina layers superiorly.

CONCLUSION: Methylene blue may be associated with severe retinal toxicity. Given its similarity to other vital dyes in ophthalmology, care must be taken to avoid its inadvertent administration.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

PubMed ID

41345715

Language

English

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