We are inundated with advertising for the COVID-19 vaccines, but rarely does the mainstream media or the government discuss the side effects of these vaccines.
One adverse vaccine event that has been reported in the scientific literature is blindness and other damage to the eyes.
While the mechanism of eye injury is not yet well understood, ocular problems are appearing in the medical literature.
Indeed, there are a surprising number of case studies and other reports showing that COVID-19 vaccines can cause damage to your eyes.
‘All Subtypes of COVID-19 Vaccines…Associated With Optic Neuropathy’
In September 2022, the journal Vaccines published a systemic review of the published cases of optic neuropathy following COVID-19 vaccination.Given that we know that COVID-19 infections themselves can cause ocular changes, it made sense to the team of seven researchers from Egypt and the United States that COVID-19 vaccines may affect the eye.
This team examined 45 cases of patients who had vaccine-associated eye problems.
The scientists concluded that “All subtypes of COVID-19 vaccines, including mRNA, viral vector, and inactivated viral vaccines were associated with optic neuropathy.”
They further found that, “The temporal association between vaccine administration and the development of optic neuropathies in these cases makes a causal link plausible.”
A Myriad of Eye Problems
An earlier systematic review was conducted by ophthalmologists at the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. Also published in the journal Vaccines, this review appeared in November 2021.These Taiwanese ophthalmologists found that patients suffered from problems on the eyelid, cornea, surface of the eye, retina, uvea (the middle layer of the wall of the eye), optic nerves, and blood vessels.
While at that time they concluded that eye problems post-COVID-19 infections were more common than post-COVID-19 vaccines, they urged medical professionals to “be aware of the possible associations between COVID-19 vaccines and ocular symptoms…”
Blurred Vision
An ophthalmologist in Thailand developed blurred vision immediately after his second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This doctor received the Chinese CoronaVac and Sinovac Biotech vaccines.His case was written up in a study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports in September 2021. The team of six Thai ophthalmologists and researchers suggested that a possible mechanism could be related to the narrowing of the optic artery triggered by COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the case study, the 42-year-old eye doctor, who was otherwise healthy, experienced blurred vision in both eyes, which developed an hour after the second vaccine dose. Although the eye doctor had a 10-year history of a lipid imbalance (called dyslipidemia), his condition was being managed by taking 20 mg of Rosuvastatin per day.
After his first vaccine, he had no serious adverse reactions, only some mild soreness at the injection site.
However, just 40 minutes after the second vaccine, which was given to him on April 21, 2021, he developed blurred vision. He felt like he was looking at the world through water. He did not, however, experience a headache or any weakness.
Still, the blurred vision was so bothersome that he went to urgent care. The only accompanying symptom found was mildly elevated blood pressure. He underwent an MRI two hours after the vision problems began. He was admitted to the hospital and treated with IV fluids and 325 mg of aspirin, taken orally.
He made a full recovery. In fact, his vision improved after just a few hours. However, the case prompted these scientists to conclude that it would be prudent for medical staff and eye doctors to be aware that eye problems can occur post-vaccination.
Central Retinal Vein Occlusion
Central Retinal Vein Occlusion, or CRVO, is a condition where the main vein that drains blood from the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of your eyeball) becomes either partially or completely closed off. This can lead to blurred vision and other, more serious eye problems.Severe CRVO is often accompanied by eye pain, redness, and irritation.
Having diabetes or high blood pressure puts people at higher risk for CRVO. But, according to the American Society of Retina Specialists, the specific cause of CRVO is not known. However, it can develop from a blood clot or restricted blood flow in the central retinal vein.
In January 2022, four ophthalmologists from Aravind Eye Hospital in Pondicherry, India, reported two cases of CRVO in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. In both cases, the central retinal vein occlusion presented immediately after the patients received a second dose of the CoviShield vaccine.
CoviShield is the Serum Institute of India’s version of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, made from an attenuated version of an adenovirus.
But cases of central retinal vein occlusion have also been reported following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In that case, a 52-year-old man with no family history or eye issues presented with sudden blurred vision in his left eye for one day, without other symptoms. He had received the first dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine 15 days before.
The same problem arose in a 50-year-old man who was reportedly healthy, non-smoking, and of normal weight. In this case, the eye injury occurred immediately after a second Pfizer vaccine. Within 15 minutes, the patient experienced pain behind his left eye, redness, and difficulty seeing.
Yet another report by researchers in Chicago describes a similar experience. In this case, however, it occurred three days after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and was accompanied by several acute symptoms, including severe nausea, moderate diarrhea, disorientation, and severe fatigue.
Japanese eye doctors have seen similar cases. In one report, a 54-year-old woman was referred to doctors at the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital eight days after receiving the second dose of the Moderna mRNA vaccine (mRNA-1273). She had sudden and severe vision loss in her right eye. This patient’s eye was so impacted that she could not differentiate light from dark.
The doctors found that she had widespread hemorrhaging and swelling in her eye. The researchers suspected that the cause of her blindness was blood clots in the retinal blood vessels due to the vaccine.
No Known Cure
According to the National Eye Institute, there is no cure for CRVO. However, treatment can help improve vision and also keep symptoms from worsening.Conventional treatments involve injecting medicine called anti-VEGF, which can help reduce swelling by reducing the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in your eyes.
Another treatment involves laser therapy that makes tiny burns in the retina to reduce the chance of bleeding and developing too much pressure in the eyes.
‘Visual Disturbances We Can’t Explain’
Dr. Lynnell Lowry is an ophthalmologist in private practice in San Antonio, Texas. She said that she has seen more unusual eye problems since the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines than she ever has in 25 years of practicing medicine.“A lot of folks are coming in with a visual disturbance that we can’t explain,” Lowry said. “One patient kept seeing whirls of light in her vision. She was about six weeks post-vaccination when she finally came to see me.”
This patient remembered the exact date her vision difficulties began. When Lowry asked her when she got her last COVID-19 vaccine, she pulled the information up on her phone. “She realized that she’d had the vaccine that very same week,” Lowry said.
Lowry said she has also seen several cases of shingles in young adults that began within 12 hours of getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The shingles infections affected their eyes, which is why they came to her.
“They started feeling something on their face. Next thing a rash is starting, then blisters. Usually, they come to see me because the shingles is in the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve,” Lowry explained.
One patient had such a bad case of post-vaccination shingles that Lowry sent him to the emergency room. His lymph nodes and his neck were so swollen that she thought it would obstruct his breathing, she said.
Lowry has also had a patient who experienced double vision within 24 hours of getting her first COVID vaccine.
But her biggest concern is that she and her colleagues in other specialties are seeing a rise in incidents of Graves’ disease. Lowry explained that with Graves’ disease, the muscles around the eyes can actually enlarge, and push the eyeball forward.
Lowry has a small practice and only works part-time these days. But, she said, in the past, she would see one case of Graves’ disease every five years. Now, since the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines, she has seen four cases of Graves’ disease, also known as thyroid eye disease, in the last 18 months.
“I’ve never in my life thought to ask about vaccine status,” she said. “Now it’s a standard question, ‘When were you vaccinated? When did your symptoms start?’”
