Presumed Panuveitis Following COVID-19 Vaccination in a Patient with Granulomatous Tattoo Inflammation

PURPOSE:To report a case of panuveitis that developed following COVID-19 vaccination in a patient with a recent history of granulomatous tattoo inflammation.METHODS:Case report.RESULTS:A 25-year-old woman with a recent history of biopsy-proven granulomatous tattoo inflammation developed bilateral eye pain and blurred vision 1 week following her second mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccination (Moderna, Inc, Cambridge, MA). Examination revealed bilateral panuveitis. Workup for infectious etiologies and sarcoidosis was negative. The intraocular inflammation initially resolved with systemic prednisone therapy but then recurred following tapering, requiring the initiation of mycophenolate mofetil.CONCLUSION:A case of panuveitis that developed following a COVID-19 vaccination in a patient with a recent history of tattoo inflammation is reported. The temporal relationship between the vaccine and the development of uveitis in this patient may be coincidental and should be interpreted with caution, but multiple vaccines have been associated with uveitis, presumably as a result of their generalized stimulation of the immune system. It is believed that this case of tattoo-associated uveitis may have been exacerbated by the generalized inflammatory effect of COVID-19 vaccination.