Evaluation of a birth-related foveal hemorrhage in an infant using optical coherence tomography

During the routine ophthalmologic examination of a 38-day old female infant, indirect ophthalmoscopy revealed a dense hemorrhage on the fovea and a couple of superficial hemorrhages in the nasal retina of the left eye. No hemorrhage was observed in the right eye. A hand-held spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) was used at the time of diagnosis. The hemorrhage at the nasal retina resolved in the first week of follow-up, and the foveal hemorrhage resolved 12 weeks after birth. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography was repeated once the foveal hemorrhage had resorbed, and it showed that the foveal contour had reformed without any sequelae. This case suggests that birth-related foveal hemorrhages do not cause any disturbance in the foveal architecture.