Equipping People To Make Sense Of What They Are Told
Optic Neuritis -The optic nerve comprises of axons that emerge from the retina of
the eye and carry visual information to the primary visual nuclei, most of which
is relayed to the occipital cortex of the brain to be processed into vision.
Inflammation of the optic nerve axons causes loss of vision usually due to:
Swelling and destruction of the myelin sheath covering the optic nerve.
Direct axonal damage may also play a role in nerve destruction.
Major symptoms may occur such as:
Sudden loss of vision (partial or complete).
Sudden blurred or foggy vision.
Pain on movement of the affected eye.
Loss of some of their colour vision in the affected eye (especially red), with colours
appearing subtly washed out compared to the other eye.
Pain can precede visual loss in many cases.
The head of the optic nerve can be visualised by an ophthalmoscope. However, abnormal
appearance of the nerve head in optic neuritis may not always be apparent. Only one
eye may be affected and loss of colour vision is not always realised by the person.
Autoimmune disorders - Such as lupus, multiple sclerosis.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Drug induced - as a side effect of some drugs.
Vasculitis.
Diabetes
Ophthalmoscope - an instrument used to examine the eye and its interior. Two basic
types are direct and indirect. Direct is the size of a flashlight and has several
magnifying lenses. Indirect has a hand-held lens and light attached to a headband,
can be monocular or binocular, and provides a wider and better view of the inside
of the eye.
