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Case Reports
. 2022 Mar 16;11(6):1012.
doi: 10.3390/cells11061012.

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease Exacerbation Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine

Begoña De Domingo  1 , Miguel López  2   3 , Maria Lopez-Valladares  1 , Esperanza Ortegon-Aguilar  4 , Bernardo Sopeña-Perez-Argüelles  5 , Francisco Gonzalez  1   6
Affiliations
Case Reports

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease Exacerbation Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine

Begoña De Domingo et al. Cells. .

Abstract

We describe a case of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease exacerbation after COVID-19 vaccination. A 46-year-old woman presented with a bilateral granulomatous uveitis 2 days after the first dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech), and was diagnosed with a complete Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease 4 days after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. Three weeks before the first dose, she had been consulted for blurred vision and mild headaches. The case resolved with high dose intravenous corticosteroids, followed by oral prednisone. The close temporal relationship between the COVID-19 vaccine doses and the worsening of VKH symptoms strongly suggests COVID-19 vaccination as the trigger of its exacerbation.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; VKH disease; uveitis; vaccine-associated autoimmunity; vitiligo.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Koeppe Nodules in the left iris (arrows). (B) Poliosis of the upper eyelashes of the left eye (arrow). (C) Pigment epithelium alterations (arrows) in the periphery of the eye fundus in both eyes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Right eye (A) and left eye (B) OCT of the macular area showing retinal and choroidal folds.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Right eye (A) and left eye (B) OCT of the peripapillary area showing retinal and choroidal folds.
Figure 4
Figure 4
OCT image of the right eye, showing choroidal thickening and subfoveal neurosensory retinal detachment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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