Neuro Ophthalmic Eye Conditions, Disorders & Treatment

The treatment of visual problems due to nervous system rather than the eye itself come under Neuro-ophthalmology, a subspecialty of both neurology and ophthalmology. Neuro-ophthalmologists are responsible for diagnosis and treatment of all nerve-related problems affecting your vision, eyeball movement, eye movements and alignment, and pupil abnormalities.

Who requires an urgent Neuro Ophthalmic evaluation?

You should immediately go to an eye doctor if you have a sudden vision loss at any point in time. 

Here are a few Neuro-ophthalmology symptoms, which if ever occur, you should visit your doctor as soon as possible. 

• Abnormal eye movements
• Double vision
• Eyelid abnormalities
• Unexplained visual loss
• Optic nerve problems (such as optic neuritis and ischemic optic neuropathy)
• Visual disturbances
• Thyroid eye disease
• Transient visual loss
• Myasthenia gravis
• Visual field loss

These symptoms are caused due to ignorance and associated with optic nerve disease. The optic nerve connects the eye to the brain and acts like an electrical cable bringing visual information from the eye to the brain for processing. Optic nerve disorders include: 

Preparing for your Neuro-Ophthalmology Evaluation

If you already have had a CT or MRI Scan performed, pick up actual films and bring them with you.

For the eye test, your pupils will be diluted, and the effect will last for about four hours. Everything will be blurry for these few hours so bring someone along with you to the appointment, and bring your sunglasses.

Carry along all the medications and over the counter drugs you have used before. 

The physician will need to take a good look at your eyelids, so avoid wearing eye makeup on the appointment day. 

Neuro-Ophthalmology Treatments – Pills or prayers?

During your eye examination, your Neuro-ophthalmologists will be able to detect the nerve that’s causing the problem and give you a treatment. While some nerve conditions can be treated with oral medications, others might require surgery, and your Neuro-ophthalmologist will guide you through the procedure.

You might also go through a CT or MRI scan to check if there is any brain damage. Some common diseases and their treatments:-

Optic Neuritis: this is a condition where there is a sudden onset loss of vision, which can be due to information of optic nerve. This usually happens due to infection and can be associated with Multiple Sclerosis. If you are suffering from optic neuritis, your neuro-ophthalmologist will right use of antibiotics and corticosteroids which can be done used to flush out infection and stop causing further damage. 

Papilloedema: this is characterized by the swelling of the optic nerve and can be easily detected by a doctor during the retinal evaluation. This is usually due to the increased pressure from the brain and can be because of a tumor or infection. 

If this is because of the pressure, then medications are used to reduce set inside the skull whereas if this is because of a humorous growth, you might need surgery. 

Nutritional Optic Neuropathy: In this case, your optic nerve is damaged because of toxic substances which are found in tobacco alcohol. This also happens because of lack of various nutrients and deficiency of vitamin B complex. You will be prescribed lifestyle changes and vitamins by your eye doctor. 

Diabetic Retinopathy: the cause for this disease is usually diabetes, and if you haven’t been diagnosis diabetes, and it is advised to control and treat diabetes before it can damage the blood vessels further. 

Neuro-Ophthalmology @ Eye7 Chaudhary Eye Centre

An expert team of doctors led by Dr. Rahil Chaudhary at Eye7 Chaudhary Eye Centre handles patients with neuro-ophthalmic conditions. They take utmost care to save the patient’s vision. 

Tests like indirect ophthalmoscopy, pupil examination, ocular motility examinations, visual field examinations, and Slit-lamp biomicroscopy are used here to determine the health of optic nerve. If any variation is noticed by the Neuro-Surgeon, CT scans & MRI of the brain are also performed for further analysis.

At Eye7 Chaudhary Eye Centre in New Delhi, the highly specialized neurosurgeons and staff make sure that each patient gets a high-quality treatment and care they deserve.