A 30-year-old insomniac, an off-label user of quetiapine, presented with blurring of central vision, eventually diagnosed as central serous chorioretinopathy. A potential association was suspected based on the drug's actions on the autonomic nervous system. He showed improvement on drug withdrawal; then he unwittingly resumed quetiapine and had a recurrence. Possible underlying mechanisms that include alteration in choroidal perfusion through serotonin and dopamine receptors are discussed. Although retinal vein occlusions and pigment epithelial detachment have been described with quetiapine, to the author's knowledge, this is the first case report of quetiapine-associated central serous chorioretinopathy.
Keywords: Adverse drug reaction; central serous chorioretinopathy; dopamine; quetiapine; serotonin.