Transient complete visual loss and subsequent cystoid macular edema after intracameral lidocaine injection following uneventful cataract surgery

PURPOSE: To report a case of transient visual loss following uncomplicated cataract surgery with unpreserved intracameral lidocaine. METHODS: A 61-year-old woman with nuclear sclerosis cataract underwent uncomplicated phacoemulsification and in-the-bag intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. RESULTS: After opening the eye patch on the first postoperative day, the patient complained of complete blindness. Her vision was no light perception (NLP) and the Marcus-Gunn was found to be 4+. Eight hours later, the patient's visual acuity improved to count fingers at 1 m. After two days, the vision improved surprisingly to 20/20 without any Marcus-Gunn. After 4 weeks, the vision decreased surprisingly to 20/80 without any Marcus-Gunn. On this day, macular optical coherence tomography (OCT) was performed, and cystoid macular edema was detected. CONCLUSION: Transient visual loss after intracameral lidocaine has been reported after violation of posterior capsule during cataract surgery, and here, we report a case of transient visual loss despite uncomplicated cataract surgery.