AIM: To report 5 cases with drug-induced bilateral acute ciliochoroidal effusion(DBACE)and myopic shift, with or without ocular hypertension(OHT), summarize patients' clinical characteristics and recovery process of DBACE, and investigate the possible pathophysiological mechanism.

METHODS:A retrospective observational case study conducted from June 2017 to February 2021. The included patients were subjected to a series of ocular examinations listed as follows: 1)best corrected visual acuity; 2)intraocular pressure(IOP); 3)slit-lamp microscopy; 4)fundus photography; 5)ultrasound biomicroscopy(UBM); 6)subjective optometry; 7)axial length and anterior chamber depth. All patients were followed up every 2d until the diopters were completely restored to the state before the disease onset.

RESULTS:In total, 5 patients aged 10-45 years old, including 3 female and 2 male patients, were enrolled in this study. All patients were bilaterally involved(5/5), and had myopic shift(5/5), of whom 3 patients had OHT(3/5). With the increase of age, myopic shift decreased, while OHT increased. Based on OHT, the dynamic aggravation process of DBACE was subdivided into 2 stages, stage 1(myopic shift without OHT)and stage 2(myopic shift with OHT). With the deterioration of DBACE, when myopic shift approached or exceeded the minimum amplitude of accommodation(MAA), IOP gradually rose, and DBACE progressed from stage 1 to stage 2. With the recovery of DBACE after discontinuing the suspicious drugs, DBACE in stage 2 first returned to stage 1, and then returned to normal.

CONCLUSION:Pathophysiological mechanism of DBACE was subdivided into 2 stages, including stage 1(myopic shift without OHT)and stage 2(myopic shift with OHT). The transition between the two stages depends on the imbalance between myopic shift and MAA.