Pseudopapilledema/ Optic Nerve Drusen

Hello!

My son (age 6) was diagnosed with this condition yesterday after his eye doctor referred us to the emergency room with apparent papilledema symptoms (apparent swelling of optic nerve, headaches and vomiting episodes).

First, are the two terms synonymous?  She wrote down OND as the official diagnosis, but also called it pseudopapilledema and both seem to bring up the same info on the internet.

I understand that drusen don't normally cause major visual impairments, especially in the central field of vision, but my question though is whether his age and having a diagnosis this young will make a difference in the expected prognosis?  
If drusen tend to get bigger, etc, it stands to reason (in my mind) that it may become more prominent and may have more time to cause vision problems than someone who wasn't diagnosed until adulthood...

Please let me know if there are any studies or information specifically on the prognosis of young children with this condition.

Thanks

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

No OND is a cause of false swelling of the ON. (papilledema is the name for true swelling). Other causes of pseudopapilledema are: low intraocular pressure, high hyperopia, glial tissue on ON,

Most cases of OND do not cause symptoms. They do interfer with the diagnosis of glaucoma.

In rare cases OND can progress and cause symptomatic loss of central and peripheral vision. The worse case I've seen in practice is the wife of my wife's cousin. (naturally).

There is not treatment. use a search engine and read more. Use Google IMAGES to type in optic nerve drusen to see what they look like.

JCH MD