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Objective To evaluate vascular changes in the early period after COVID-19 infection and at a 6-month follow-up. Methods This study included 50 eyes of 25 patients who had been hospitalized for PCR-positive COVID-19 infection and 50 eyes of 25 healthy individuals. All subjects underwent optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) using a 6 × 6 macular protocol in the early period after hospital discharge and 6 months later. Foveal vessel density (VD) and parafoveal VD values were measured from 4 quadrants (superior, inferior, nasal, temporal) of the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and the deep capillary plexus (DCP). Choriocapillaris (CC) flow area and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area were also measured. The OCT-A measurements of the patient group were compared both between time points and with the control group at each time point. Results COVID-19 patients showed lower VD values than control subjects in all parafoveal quadrants of both the SCP (superior, p=0.01; inferior, p=0.048; nasal, p=0.003; temporal, p=0.048) and the DCP (superior, p=0.001; inferior, p=0.011; nasal, p=0.012; temporal, p=0.018) at the initial checkup and in all parafoveal quadrants of the SCP (superior, p=0.0001; inferior, p=0.007; nasal, p=0.001; temporal, p=0.017) and in 2 of the parafoveal quadrants of the DCP (superior, p=0.003; inferior, p=0.016) at the 6-month follow-up. CC flow area values were significantly lower at the 6-month follow-up compared with the initial examination (p=0.044). Conclusion It is important to perform appropriate follow-up for COVID-19 patients as retinal vascular flow changes may persist in the long term.

Objective: Regarding the effect of obesity on subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, controversial results have been reported in different patient groups. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of obesity on these parameters among young male subjects in comparison with age-matched non-obese healthy males. Methods: This prospective, cross-sectional study included both eyes of 50 obese young males and 50 healthy non-obese young males. The obese and the non-obese groups included subjects with a BMI of ⩾30 and ⩽25 kg/m², respectively. Subfoveal choroidal thickness and RNFL analyses were conducted by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Results: Subfoveal choroidal thickness (321.0 ± 46.7 vs 338.4±35.3, p = 0.002) and RNFL thickness at temporal quadrant (73.4 ± 9.9 vs 76.4 ± 9.3, p = 0.008) was significantly lower in the obese group when compared to the non-obese group. The groups did not differ regarding peripapillary RNFL thickness at other quadrants (superior, inferior, or nasal) or regarding mean peripapillary RNFL thickness. Conclusion: Findings of this study demonstrated a negative correlation of obesity with subfoveal choroidal thickness and temporal quadrant peripapillary RNFL thickness. Larger studies on different patient groups with longer-term follow-up are warranted to better elucidate the ophthalmological effects of obesity.

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