| Optic neuropathy | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Optic nerve disorder |
| Specialty | Neurology, Ophthalmology |
| Symptoms | Vision loss, reduced color vision, blurred vision |
| Complications | Permanent vision loss, blindness |
| Usual onset | Sudden or gradual |
| Duration | Variable, depending on cause |
| Types | Ischemic optic neuropathy, optic neuritis, traumatic optic neuropathy, hereditary optic neuropathy |
| Causes | Vascular issues, inflammation, trauma, toxins, genetic mutations (e.g., Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy) |
| Risk factors | Age, smoking, cardiovascular disease, genetic predisposition |
| Diagnostic method | Clinical evaluation, visual field tests, optical coherence tomography, MRI |
| Differential diagnosis | Glaucoma, retinal disease, brain lesions |
| Prevention | Managing risk factors like blood pressure, avoiding smoking, regular eye exams |
| Treatment | Addressing underlying cause (e.g., steroids for inflammation,[1] surgery for trauma), vision rehabilitation |
| Medication | Corticosteroids (for optic neuritis), other medications depending on the cause |
| Prognosis | Variable; some cases recover, others lead to permanent vision loss |
| Frequency | Common in individuals with risk factors (e.g., older adults, smokers) |
| Deaths | None directly from optic neuropathy, but complications from underlying causes (e.g., stroke) can be fatal |
Optic neuropathy is damage to the optic nerve from any cause. The optic nerve is a bundle of millions of fibers in the retina that sends visual signals to the brain.
Damage and death of these nerve cells, or neurons, leads to characteristic features of optic neuropathy. The main symptom is loss of vision, with colors appearing subtly washed out in the affected eye. A pale disc is characteristic of long-standing optic neuropathy. In many cases, only one eye is affected and a person may not be aware of the loss of color vision until the examiner asks them to cover the healthy eye.
Optic neuropathy is often called optic atrophy, to describe the loss of some or most of the fibers of the optic nerve.