Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (Jan 2014)

Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in association with optic nervehead drusen

  • Bharathi Megur,
  • Deepak Megur,
  • Umesh Megur,
  • Sandeep Reddy

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/0301-4738.138636
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 62, no. 7
pp. 829 – 831

Abstract

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Optic nerve head drusen (ONHD) are incidental ophthalmologic finding in the optic nerve. Patients with ONHD are often asymptomatic, but sometimes present with transient visual obscuration′s (TVO), the reported incidence of which is 8.6%. Optic nerve head drusen are of two types: Superficial; visible and deep. The deep-buried drusen mimic papilledema. Because of the varied presentation deep-buried drusen pose a diagnostic challenge to the ophthalmologists. In young patients, they are mistaken for papilledema as it is clinically difficult to detect a buried drusen in the optic nerve head, but are seen on the surface with aging as the retinal nerve fiber layer thins out. They are observed as pale yellow lesions more often located towards the poles. Clinical examination aided with diagnostic tests like computed tomography (CT) orbits and ultrasound B scan can help establish the diagnosis. Herein, we report a rare case of optic nerve head drusen in a young lady, who presented with loss of vision and clinical evaluation and investigations suggested ONHD with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

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