A Case of Hyaluronic Acid Induced Blindness With Ophthalmoplegia and Ptosis

Hyaluronic acid injection can lead to skin necrosis, visual loss, and other complications. The blindness with ophthalmoplegia and ptosis is a rare, but terrible and devastating complication. The disfigured appearance usually has significant impact on patient's social life. There is no standard treatment. A patient with hyaluronic acid induced blindness, ophthalmoplegia, and ptosis is reported. Six days after the onset, peribulbar/retrobulbar injections of high dosage hyaluronidase were performed. The orbital edema and ptosis immediately improved. The ophthalmoplegia and ptosis improved significantly within a month and resolved completely within 3 months, although the right vision remained blind. Peribulbar/retrobulbar injection of hyaluronidase is a potential rescue therapy for the hyaluronic acid induced ophthalmoplegia and ptosis. Accepted for publication August 9, 2018. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2015CB554100), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81271035/H1205), and Foundation for Returned Personals Studying Abroad of Sichuan Province in 2015. The authors have no financial or conflicts of interest to disclose. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's website (www.op-rs.com.). Hui Chen and Huan Wang are co-authors. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Hui Chen, M.D., Ophthalmology Department, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, No. 32, 1st Ring Road, 2nd West Section, Chengdu City, Sichuan 610072, People's Republic of China. E-mail: 540685790@qq.com; Zhenglin Yang, Ph.D., Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory for Human Disease Gene Study, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, No. 32, 1st Ring Road, 2nd West Section, Chengdu City, Sichuan 610072, People's Republic of China. E-mail: zliny@yahoo.com © 2018 by The American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Inc., All rights reserved.