Contributor: Gordon K. Klintworth
Birth trauma commonly causes hemorrhages at different depths in the retina [hemorrhage - retina], and they sometimes spread to the subhyaloid space and vitreous. Edema may involve much of the retina [edema - retina] can form at the posterior pole of the eye and the site of injury following trauma. Clinically apparent whitish areas resolve completely over several days, but at the macula, the edema may persist as a cystoid maculopathy [maculopathy - cystoid] that leads to degenerative and/or proliferative alterations in the adjacent retinal pigment epithelium, or to lamellar holes in the macular. Following the resorption of the retinal hemorrhages, the involved area may remain destroyed and be evident as cystoid spaces or as atrophic areas within the retina sometimes associated with gliosis. With a forceps delivery the cornea can become injured [forceps injury].