What could be causing blurred optic disc margins papilledema?
Papilledema refers to the swelling of the optic nerve due to increased pressure inside the cranium. There are various possible causes, including a mass, a hemorrhage, and meningitis. Some other conditions cause optic nerve swelling without intracranial pressure.
What is blurring of the optic disc?
Papilloedema – swelling of the optic disc with blurring of the disc margins, hyperaemia and loss of physiologic cupping. Flame-shaped hemorrhages and yellow exudates appear near the disc margins as edema progresses. There is loss of spontaneous venous pulsations (but this is absent in 20% of people anyway).
What does an abnormal optic disc look like?
Tilted discs are characterized by an elevation of the superotemporal disc, posterior displacement of the inferonasal disc and situs inversus of the retinal vessels. They present bilaterally in 80% of patients. Optic disc colobomas appear as sharply defined, white, bowl-shaped, inferiorly decentered excavations.
Should optic disc margins be sharp?
The optic disc appears pink with sharp margins and a cup-to-disc ratio of approximately 0.35. The vasculature is normal in course and caliber. The striated sheen radiating outward from the disc is evidence of a healthy retinal nerve fiber layer.
What is Foster Kennedy syndrome?
Foster-Kennedy Syndrome is characterized by unilateral visual loss with a compressive optic atrophy in one eye and contralateral papilledema caused by increased intracranial pressure. The same ophthalmoscopic features however can be seen in the pseudo-Foster-Kennedy Syndrome.
What does papilledema feel like?
Symptoms of Papilledema Fleeting vision changes—blurred vision, double vision, flickering, or complete loss of vision—typically lasting seconds are characteristic of papilledema. Other symptoms may be caused by the elevated pressure in the brain. Headache, nausea, vomiting, or a combination may occur.
What causes blurred disc margins?
When a patient has an elevated optic nerve head (ONH) with blurred disc margins, alarm bells should go off. These could be harbingers of true papilledema caused by an underlying systemic process or mass lesion in need of urgent treatment. But these signs could also be pseudopapilledema.
Does papilledema go away?
Papilledema isn’t usually an issue on its own. It can typically be treated by draining extra CSF fluid, which reduces swelling. Symptoms then disappear in a few weeks. Swelling or injury to your brain can be serious and life-threatening.
What causes a blurred optic nerve?
Optic neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve that causes blurred, grey and dim vision. If you have these symptoms, contact your doctor immediately. Common causes of optic neuritis include multiple sclerosis, cytomegalovirus, Lyme disease and herpes.
How do I test my optic disc?
Begin at arm’s length by shining the ophthalmoscope light into the patient’s pupil (you will then see the red reflex). Follow this reflex until your forehead rests on your thumb—you should immediately see the optic disc.
What does sharp disc margins mean?
This is the end stage of a process resulting in optic nerve damage. Because the optic nerve fiber layer is thinned or absent the disc margins appear sharp and the disc is pale, probably reflecting absence of small vessels in the disc head. EXAMPLES OF OPTIC ATROPHY (NEUROPATHY):
What does it mean to have blurred optic discs?
Secondary optic atrophy (Figure 2 on page 71) is a consequence of long-standing swelling of the optic disc, which may be due to inflammation, ischaemia or raised intracranial pressure. The disc is greyish in colour and the margins are blurred.
Why is optic disc a blind spot?
The optic disc is called the blind spot because it lacks photoreceptors so light focused on it cannot be seen. This is where the ganglion cell axons form the optic nerve, which exits via the optic disc.
What is normal optic disc size?
African Continental Ancestry Group
What are the common causes of optic nerve swelling?
Multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which your autoimmune system attacks the myelin sheath covering nerve fibers in your brain.