Yellowish dots in the retina: a finding of ocular syphilis?

Here we report the occurrence of pale yellowish perivascular preretinal dots in 12 patients with ocular syphilis. A case series of these patients was examined between March and October 2012 at the Uveitis Sector of Universidade Federal de São Paulo. After diagnostic confirmation of syphilis, fundus photographs and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed to verify the localization of the dots, and patients were treated with IV crystalline penicillin for 14 days. The study comprised 11 men (91.6%), 19 eyes, median presentation age of 38.1 years, and panuveitis as the main clinical manifestation (seven patients, 58.3%), being bilateral in four. Ten patients were taking oral prednisone (83.3%). Serum panels performed by the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) showed positive results in eight patients (66.7%), whereas VDRL cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests were negative in seven of nine collected (77.8%). However, serum FTA-Abs was positive in 100% of patients, and eight patients (66.7%) had HIV infection. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) presented after treatment improved in 10 eyes (55.6%), did not change in seven eyes (38.9%), and worsened in one eye (5.6%). Although not yet acknowledged in the literature as a typical manifestation of ocular syphilis, these are very common findings in clinical practice. We believe that preretinal dots are due to perivasculitis secondary to treponema infection. It is important recognize them and remember that syphilis can present in several forms, including the one presented in this study.