To report a case of unilateral Purtscher's retinopathy that spontaneously resolved within 24 hours.

A 54-year-old man presented with decreased visual acuity in his left eye after a vehicle accident. When the accident occurred, his chest region was compressed by the safety belt. The case was diagnosed with Purtscher's retinopathy based on fundus examination, flourescein angiography (FAG) and optical coherent tomography (OCT). At presentation, the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.3 in the affected eye. Tiny Purtscher-flecken and macular edema were observed but there was no sign of retinal hemorrhage. Immediately after the trauma, OCT detected abnormally increased hyperreflectivity in the nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell layer, severe cystoid edema and serous foveal detachment. Without any treatment, BCVA was improved to 1.0 within 12 hours. Recovery of visual acuity was followed by improvement of abnormal hyperreflectivity in the nerve fiber layer, cystoid macular edema and serous foveal detachment.

The authors of the present study report a dramatically resolved unilateral Purtscher's retinopathy after blunt chest trauma.