Question
husband noticed a gray area in his visual field, went to see opthomologist who thought is was an optic nerve issue.. sent us to neuro-opthomologist who diagnosed as ischemic optic neuropathy.. within 2 weeks he has lost all sight in one eye. We were told that thn second eye either. They also have no idea what cases it.. MRI, carotid, stress test, labs are all normal.. there seems to be so little known about this. What do you know or can you suggest someone we can see.
Answer
Dear Joan,
You have a diagnosis here which is Ischemic Optic Neuropathy.
This loss of vision is a result of decreased blood supply to the optic nerve. The cause exact cannot be pointed oput, although there may be some precipitating factor or high risk like diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, low blood pressure etc which may be in the background of this.
A good neuro ophthalmologist is whom you should be seeing.
You may want to read more about it on the following links:
http://www.lowvision.org/ischemic_optic_neuropathy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_ischemic_optic_neuropathy
Hope this helps,
Best,
Dr Anand Shroff
www.shroffeye.org
