Acute Optic Neuropathy Resulting from Frontal Mucocele with Vision Recovery after Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Abstract

A 70-year-old female was diagnosed with a left frontal mucocele causing severe proptosis, lid swelling, and mild pain. After three days, her corrected visual acuity suddenly decreased to 5/500 with a relative afferent pupillary defect. Emergent endoscopic sinus surgery relieved her ocular signs and symptoms, and visual acuity quickly recovered to preoperative level. There have been relatively few reports of frontal mucoceles resulting in sudden vision loss with subsequent recovery. Our case demonstrates that a frontal mucocele can cause serious visual disturbance by acute optic neuropathy, even in the absence of any remarkable medical history or serious inflammation. Cooperation between an ophthalmologist and rhinologist is necessary, and early endoscopic sinus surgery may promise good visual prognosis.