To evaluate the clinical differences between patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) developed after steroid use and CSC patients without a history of steroid use for short-term periods.

We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 47 patients (55 eyes) diagnosed with CSC from January 2011 to August 2017 by categorizing Group 1 (32 patients, 36 eyes) without a history of steroid use and Group 2 (15 patients, 19 eyes) with a history of steroid use within 6 months. We evaluated the differences in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), subretinal fluid (SRF) height, subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and Haller's layer thickness in the two groups. We also analyzed the changes in the BCVA, SRF height, SFCT, and Haller’s layer thickness in each group for 1 month and compared them depending on the treatment.

There were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to age, sex, BCVA, bilaterality, number of leakage points, and Haller's layer thickness. Group 2 showed significantly increased SRF height and SFCT than Group 1 ( p = 0.002, p = 0.005, respectively). In Group 1, the level of SRF and SFCT were significantly more decreased after 1 month ( p = 0.001, 0.015, respectively) in patients with treatment than in those without treatment. In Group 2, the height of the SRF and SFCT were significantly more decreased after 1 month ( p = 0.005, 0.002, respectively) in untreated patients compared to treated patients.

CSC patients with a prior history of steroid use have higher serous detachment and a thicker SFCT than those without prior history of steroid use. Therefore, termination of steroid treatment may reduce the SFCT and SRF in steroid-treated CSC patients.