Neuro-ophthalmology is a field that merges neurology and ophthalmology. It mainly deals with diseases of the nervous system that affects vision, control the movement of eyes or abnormalities of pupil.
It is the brain that resolves the image that is captured by the human eye. Mainly the optic nerve is responsible for the transfer of visual stimuli and any damage or dysfunction of this optic nerve may lead to impairment of vision.
Optic nerve disorders include the following:
- Raised pressure in eye or glaucoma
- Not enough blood supply or ischaemia
- Eye injury
- Raised pressure in the brain
- Inflammation
- Double vision
- Photophobia (difficulty in seeing light)
- Headaches
- Disorders of eye movement that can affects certain parts of the brain that control the movement and obstruct the signal transmission between nerve and muscle.
- Optic neuritis
- Optic nerve atrophy
Causes
The causes of neuro-ophthalmological disorders include the following:
- Tumors that cause compression
- Blood supply reduction
- Symptoms
- Decreased vision
- Unequal pupils
- Double vision
Treatment
The treatment of certain neuro-ophthalmological disorders depends on the type.
EXAMINATIONS
- Visual Acuity
- Colour Vision (Testing By Pseudo Ishihara Chart)
- Amsler Grid Test
- Pupil Examination
- Confrontation Visual Fields
- Hess Charting
- Fundus Examination
- Visual Fields
- OCT
- Ocular Movements/ Position - Any phoria or tropia, lid position (retraction or ptosis), head posture, ocular movements – any obvious deviation, nystagmus, saccades, convergence
- Nystagmus – Observe for any abnormal head posture for maintaining in the null position
