Flash photography-induced maculopathy

Objective: To report a flash photography-induced maculopathy. Methods: A professional photographer blinded himself accidentally and he consulted 3 days after the event with a scotoma in his dominant left eye. A unilateral acute light-induced maculopathy with hemorrhage was observed. The lesion was studied with colour photography, fluorescein and indocyanin angiography, autofluorescence imaging and repeated optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. Results: At age 43, this professional photographer was blinded by the flash light of his camera and subsequently realized he had a scotoma in his dominant eye. Three days after the event visual acuity (VA) was 20/70 and an acute light-induced maculopathy was noted. Another three days later, VA was 20/50 and the lesions were less prominent. After one month, the photographer still had problems making sharp pictures, VA was 20/25 and a macular scar was observed. During further follow-up, he regained full vision and experienced no professional problems. Conclusions: This case illustrates that the light of flash photography can accidentally hit an eye and induce a light-induced maculopathy.