ophthalmologist

Hi all

I phoned a optician (ophthalmologist) this morning to ask if they do a optic nerve test.

I was told I can book in for an eye test and they check that during the test.(I don't need an eye test I have not long had one)

What I would like to know is, who has been diagnosed with damaged nerve and how did they or what did they do to find this out  

[Wobbly]

good question... I saw an opthalmologist a few years ago and he didn't do much but look into my eyes and said it's not nerve damage?  

not sure what kind of testing they really do for that?  

I have double/blurry vision, flashing nights .. cirlces of light when I open my eyes..??  floaters..

comes and goes...it's not always..but alot of the time..

my new Neuro said to go back to a Neuro Opthomologist?  

another specialist....

take it easy
andie

[slightlybroken]

I am going soon to have a VEP. A VEP test can detect even minor damage to the nerve(damage that can't be seen with MRI or on examination). The VEP test is usually ordered by your neuro. If you have damage from a lesion further back on the optical nerve it will show up on MRI if it's big enough.

When I went to an opthamologist back in March for the double vision I was having, he looked at my optical nerve, tested my pressures, and they did a visual field test. My optical nerve looked good on exam but I did have some visual field loss. Since that was my first visual field test they said they would use the results as a baseline for when I have another.

My opthamologist thought that maybe I was suffering from optical neuritis but he believed it was further back on the eye where he couldn't see. As for the double vision, he believed it was because of weakness in the muscle that line up the eye.

Hope This Helps

[santana8]

This is exactly what happened to me.  My onset of sudden vision distortion and dysfunction got me to an optomitrist first.  He said I needed glasses because I was far sighted and had a stigmatism.  Well, he was right about the hyperopia( farsightedness) and the stigmatism, but wrong about it being bad enough to require glasses, and this I found out later!

Anyway, after three Opthomologist exams, with dilated fundus, I was told by all three that my optic nerves, retina, and vision was completely normal, 20/20 VA( visual aquity).  So why couldn't I see,  one of them ask me!  I said I don't know but I can't see!

Finally five months later I just came straight out and asked for a visual field test( I had been researching my symptoms and read that this was a test that could show vision loss that cannot be seen on fundiscopic exam.  The Optho did not think I needed one, because quite frankly he thought I was making up the vision loss, because of my history of anxiety!

Finally, he done the visual field test which showed a left inferior harmonymous quadrantopia.  Which means that I have a one quadrant in both eyes , tested separately that is blind. Or another words a scotoma in one quadrant in both sides of my field of vision.

This test got me to a neuro, finally, after eight months of telling them that I couln't see right!  The MRI of the brain was possitive and showed 10 white matter lesions scattered throughout but mostly over the visual pathways in the brain.

A VEP was done to check for slowing and it too was possitive for slowing!  Now they believe me and know that I really can't see right.  My neuro-optho thinks that I had Retroubulbar Neuritis, which is  ON, but like slightly said, it is further back on the optic nerve somewhere between the optic nerve in the back of the eyes  and the brain, or more specifically , the visual pathways in the brain.  I have managed through studying some brain anatomy to trace my damage for the exact field defect that I have, which is not common, to the optic radiations deep in one or both of the Parietal lobes.  I have a lot of lesions there, and a lesion here will produce this defect, called a pie on the floor wedge shaped defect!

I just went to my new neuro yesterday and he is repeating the VEP that was done in 2006  next week to compare the two of them to look for improvement, since I am seeing improvement and have for the whole two years.

But, you do have to go through the complete eye exam every time, no matter what!  Even now that they know what my problem is, they still check me with a dialated exam at least once every six months!

Hope some of this information helps you, and let me know if you want to ask anything else!

~Santana~

[margaretta]

My optic nerve looked normal in my eye exam but there was a delay on the VEP.  That test was ordered by my neurologist.  My opthamolagist didn't even seem to be very familiar with the test - not his domain.

[Terrie2008]

Thank you

I think I will just call Spec savers and explain about my eye and tell them I am waiting for an Mri and ask them if they would be able to check my eyes in the meantime to see if they can see anything.

When they checked my eyes last time they were very good in fact I have never been so long having an eye check they were so good they nearly got into my eyes.

Now that my eyes feel and seem different maybe another test will put my mind at rest.