Optic neuritis secondary to the Pfizer-BioNTech-162b2 COVID-19 vaccine managed with plasmapheresis: A case report and review

The COVID‑19 pandemic has had a significant public health impact globally, with inoculation now paramount in limiting the spread of the disease. Although the safety and efficacy profiles of COVID‑19 vaccines are well documented, it is upon the medical community to be aware of adverse effects to appropriately advise and treat patients. We report the case of a 39‑year‑old female who was hospitalized with optic neuritis (ON) 1 week after her second dose of the Pfizer‑BioNTech (BNT162b2) COVID‑19 vaccine. The patient did not have any significant medical history, including personal or familial history of multiple sclerosis or any other demyelinating disease, other than prior COVID‑19 infection. She had since made a full recovery and tested negative at the time of hospitalization for ON. Over the course of her admission, the patient’s visual acuity (VA) deteriorated from 20/400 to no light perception. After methylprednisolone was ineffective, she was started on plasmapheresis (PLEX) therapy which resulted in mild improvement of VA. To our knowledge and after a thorough PubMed literature search, this is the first reported case of isolated ON associated with COVID‑19 vaccination.