Transient myopic shift due to ciliary body detachment as the sole ocular manifestation of hypertensive emergency – A case report

PURPOSE: Hypertensive emergency usually presents to ophthalmologists in the form of hypertensive retinopathy. We present a case of hypertensive emergency that presented as bilateral transient myopic shift due to ciliary body detachment in the absence of any retinal pathology. The purpose of this paper is to showcase another ocular manifestation of hypertensive emergency. OBSERVATIONS: A 35 year-old female with a blood pressure of 192/114 mmHg presented to the emergency department with headache and acute onset blurry vision. Computed Tomography (CT) of the head, and lumbar puncture were within normal limits. Visual acuity was counting fingers in the right eye and 6/90 in the left eye, both of which improved to 6/9 with −5.00 diopters spherical correction in the right eye, and −4.75 diopters correction in the left eye. Intraocular pressures were normal. Anterior chambers were shallow, and there were no retinal changes on dilated fundus examination. Enhanced-depth optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) showed bilateral increased choroidal thickness and ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) showed 360° ciliary body detachment with angle closure. With improved blood pressure control, her ciliary body detachment resolved and her refractive error returned to baseline. CONCLUSIONS: & Importance: Hypertensive emergency may present with choroidal thickening with anterior ciliary body rotation and detachment. A review of medications is important, as this presentation has also been reported as a rare side effect of sulphonamide drugs. In the absence of retinopathy, UBM and EDI-OCT imaging should be considered in the acutely hypertensive patient presenting with myopic shift.