Optic neuritis consists of swelling of the optic nerve of the eye, its role being to carry light from the eye to the brain, thus contributing to what we call sight. If the optic nerve is swollen or damaged, regardless of the cause, vision suffers. The disease generally affects only one eye, with symptoms including: eye pain that worsens with movement, difficulty seeing, or loss of vision. Basically, experts say, vision begins to fade over the course of a few days or weeks and improves, following treatment, in a few months. In some cases, however, the vision loss is permanent. In other cases, there are difficulties in the perception of colors, seeing intermittent lights or flickers when moving the eye, blurred vision,
seeing a black dot in the middle of the visual field.
When these vision problems are accompanied by lack of coordination, speech difficulties, and spasms, they can be preliminary symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Left untreated, optic neuritis will continue to get worse. Unfortunately, the cause of the disease is unknown. However, doctors believe the disease occurs when the immune system attacks the myelin that covers the optic nerve. Thus, the optic nerve is inflamed. Although there is no certain cause of optic neuritis, there are several diseases and conditions that include this health problem among the symptoms. Among these we mention multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica, a disease involving inflammation of the optic nerve and spinal cord. Certain infections are added to them – Lyme disease, syphilis or herpes, lupus, hepatitis B, AIDS, sinusitis, vitamin B12 deficiency, etc.
2023-12-10 11:37:12
#Eye #diseases #lose #sight
