Anisocoria after scopolamine transdermal patch contamination: A case report

• Published in: Medicine (Baltimore) Vol. 100; no. 46; p. e27887
• Main Author: Joo, Jin-Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 19.11.2021
• Subjects: Adult; Anisocoria - chemically induced; Anisocoria - diagnosis; Clinical Case Report; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Pilocarpine; Pupil; Scopolamine - administration & dosage; Scopolamine - adverse effects; Transdermal Patch
• ISSN: 0025-7974; 1536-5964
• DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000027887

We report a case of anisocoria that occurred after contamination with a scopolamine transdermal patch, and introduce a diagnostic approach for anisocoria patients. A 35-year-old woman with no past ophthalmologic history presented to the ophthalmology department complaining of a dilated pupil in the right eye. Corrected visual acuities was 20/20 in both eyes, and the intraocular pressures were 20 and 18 mm Hg in the right and left eye, respectively. The anterior chambers in both eyes were unremarkable on slit-lamp examination. The pupil size was 5.0 mm in the right eye and 2.0 mm in the left eye, and the extraocular muscles of both eyes were intact. The patient neither did present with facial anhidrosis nor did she present with ptosis. Furthermore, as we did not observe dilatation lag in the smaller pupil, we applied 1% apraclonidine in the left eye in order to rule out Horner syndrome and did not observe dilatation of the pupil. We then applied 0.125% and 1% pilocarpine to exclude oculomotor nerve palsy; however, it could not be ruled out as constriction of pupil to 3.1 mm in the right eye was observed after applying 1% pilocarpine. Moreover, upon further investigation, we discovered that the patient had a scopolamine transdermal patch applied for 2 days prior to the clinic visit. Artificial tears were administered and the patient was observed and monitored. The pupil size in the right eye gradually decreased to 4.5 mm on the second day of observation and to 3.6 mm on the fourth day of observation. A detailed history of the use of medications such as scopolamine patches in patients with unilateral dilated pupils without vision loss is of utmost importance. We report the exclusion of important diseases using pilocarpine and apraclonidine hydrochloride. It was confirmed that improvement naturally occurs over time.