CASE REPORT article
Front. Ophthalmol.
Sec. Oculoplastics, Orbit and Trauma
Case Report : "Improvement From No Light Perception after Radiotherapy and Surgical Debulking for Orbital Rosai-Dorfman Disease"
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of California Irvine, Irvine, United States
- 2University of Southern California Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute, Los Angeles, United States
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Abstract: Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare, proliferative histiocytic disorder, with ophthalmic manifestations occurring in 11% of cases. This report details the case of a 75-year-old woman presenting with orbital RDD, characterized by right-sided proptosis and progressive vision loss, culminating in no light perception (NLP) for 8 months. Imaging studies revealed tumor involvement of the right ethmoid, maxillary, and sphenoid sinuses, as well as the right orbit. Biopsy confirmed extranodal RDD. The patient underwent radiotherapy, which resulted in an improvement in visual acuity to hand motion 3 months later. Subsequent orbital decompression surgery and tumor debulking were performed to address exophthalmos and worsening exposure keratopathy. Postoperatively, visual acuity improved to counting fingers at 6 inches by the first week and further to 20/800 seven months after surgery. Vision-threatening compressive optic neuropathy is a severe complication of orbital RDD, but this case demonstrates its potential reversibility with a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach.
Keywords: Rosai Dorfman disease, No light perception, Compressive optic neuropathy, case report, Oculoplastics
Received: 22 Sep 2025; Accepted: 14 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gary, Dhodapkar and Zhang-Nunes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ashlyn A. Gary, ashanzugary@gmail.com
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