Commotio Retinae from an Elastic Band Injury

This is a montage fundus photograph of the left retina of a 58 year old man struck in the left eye with an elastic exercise band. The black arrows indicate the edge of an area of commotio retinae, which is the name for a contusion injury of the retina. It produces a sheen thought to be secondary to shearing of photoreceptors by blunt trauma. The characteristic picture will resolve without treatment in several weeks, and there may be no residual fundus sign of injury. Commonly associated ocular findings would be iritis and secondary pressure abnormalities, either higher or lower than the fellow eye. The yellow arrow indicates a photographic artifact of the montage program.