COVID symptom: COVID infection may increase risk of rare eye problem

COVID-19 could increase your risk for a rare COVID-19 symptom — rare eye blood clots.

Driving the news: A new study found that patients with COVID-19 might have had an increased risk for “rare vision-threatening blood clots in the eye,” per Reuters.

• The risk lasted for months after infection.

What they found: The researchers studied about 500,000 COVID-19 patients to see if they developed clots in the veins or arteries of the retina, according to the study published on Thursday in JAMA Ophthalmology.

• Within six months, 65 of the patients had a retinal vein occlusion, which is a blockage of the small veins that carry blood from the retina of your eye.
• The clots were common in patients who had other conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
• However, clot risk was not associated with a severe coronavirus infection.

Yes, but: The researchers said it’s impossible to prove that COVID-19 caused the clot, but there’s a simple association.

The bigger picture: There have been some connections between the coronavirus and eye-related issues.

• Just recently, a new study from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that there is an increase of risk for dry eye disease (DED) for those infected by the coronavirus.
• These patients with the DED condition often had blurred vision, followed by itching, pain and burning sensations, per South China Morning Post.
• Other symptoms included tearing, discharge and redness, as I wrote for the Deseret News.