Critical care medicine ocular emergency presentation: Can you see it?

Introduction: Ocular emergencies are not a common presentation in the intensive care unit. Intensivists should have a broad differential for the “red eye” and involve ophthalmology ap-propriately for ocular emergencies. Background: Ocular emergencies can lead to permanent vision loss if not identified in a time-ly fashion. Case description: A patient with hyponatremia and bacteremia admitted to the intensive care. unit (ICU) developed an acute painful red eye. Physical exam findings and images are shared. Conclusion: Due to an acute ocular emergency, this critically-ill patient required transfer to a higher level of care and subspecialty manage-ment. Clinical significance: Education about ocular emergencies is provided for the intensivist; including diagnosis, management, and complica-tions.