Corioretinitis sclopetaria is a rare manifestation of ocular trauma which may or may not penetrate the orbit. The aim of this study is to report a case of Corioretinitis sclopetaria after orbital trauma by a firearm bullet that had initial total blindness in the affected eye, and evolved over weeks with partial visual recovery. We report a 12 years old boy, victim of firegun injury, who presented a diagnosis of corioretinitis sclopetaria in his right eye. Initial ophthalmologic examination of this eye showed nonreactive pupil and visual acuity of no light perception. The left eye was normal. The patient underwent excision of the firearm bullet located in the orbit. On the early postoperative, the patient reported seeing light and presented visual acuity of counting fingers at 30 cm. The patient showed steady improvement and after eight months his visual acuity was of 0.15 on the affected eye. In corioretinitis sclopetaria, presented visual acuity is generally low. It is still unclear whether visual loss is caused by damage to retina, optic nerve or both components. Patients with total blindness after trauma usually have no visual prognosis. However, some patients may show visual acuity improvement, such as the case described here. Therefore, in patients victims of blunt ocular trauma with low visual acuity, including no light perception, it is important to monitor these patients and treat, if necessary, due to the possibility of visual recovery.
Blindness; Chorioretinitis/diagnosis; Eye injuries; Wounds, gunshot; Retina/injuries; Case reports