Optic Neuritis- Definition, Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Treatment:
Optic neuritis is defined as an acute inflammatory disorder affecting the optic nerve. This disease can result in unilateral or bilateral loss of vision, which is often accompanied by peri-ocular pain. In majority of the cases, it is idiopathic in origin. However, de myelination, specifically multiple sclerosis, is reported to be the most common etiology in the Western literature. Optic neuritis occurs in isolation as mono symptomatic, idiopathic optic neuritis, or in the setting of two central nervous system demyelinating disorders, namely neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Less commonly, it may be associated with systemic immune-mediated disorders, chronic…show more content… In fact, The Optic Neuritis Treatment Trial found that 85% of participants recovered a visual acuity better than 20/25 after a 15-year follow-up (Hoorbakht, 2012). Most patients with optic neuritis achieve complete recovery of visual acuity, but there can be some lasting symptoms that make their life difficult. Middle-aged people are mostly affected, which can cause disability for working people. Optic neuritis mostly occurs in one eye, and in some cases both the eyes can be affected (one in ten times). Many people experience vision loss and take over a few days and stops progressing by one to two weeks. Symptoms associated with optic neuritis include blurring of vision, a loss of part or all of central vision, reduced color vision, and dimness of vision. It may also be harder to see at night due to difficulty with contrast and glare. Optic neuritis is associated with pain in the eye, which gets worse with the movement of eye. Sometimes people see flickering or flashing lights when they have optic neuritis (about one in three people). Some people notice that when they exercise or exert themselves their vision becomes blurrier. An afferent pupillary defect always occurs in optic…show more content… In the United States of America, studies have estimated the annual incidence of ON as 5 to 6.4 per 100 000, with a prevalence of 115 per 100 000” (Pau, 2011). The demographics for Optic neuritis would be expected to closely follow those seen in MS, although there is no data to support this known to the authors. It is seen more commonly in Caucasians, and is uncommon but reported in black populations. Whites of Northern European descent develop optic neuritis eight times more frequently than blacks and Asians. In Asia, optic neuritis is proportionately more common relative to the incidence of MS in the United States of America or Western Europe. Optic Neuritis is less frequent in South America and in the Mediterranean region but newer studies have reported an increasing prevalence in the last few decades (Power,
