Unilateral blindness as a complication of nasal septoplasty: case report

Abstract

Blindness as a complication of nasal septoplasty is a devastating occurrence with only a few cases reported in the literature. In most of these cases, visual loss was attributed to retinal embolism following intra-arterial injection of substances into the nasal turbinate. This paper documents one case of complete unilateral blindness from direct optic nerve trauma following an apparently uneventful septorhinoplasty. Ophthalmologists and otolaryngologists should therefore be aware of the possible occurrence of such complication.