OPTIC NEURITIS

CHARACTERISTICS OF OPTIC NEURITIS

• Optic neuritis is the inflammation of the optic nerve.
• Inflammation causes vision loss in one eye.
• Optic neuritis is highly associated with multiple sclerosis.
• For some people, optic neuritis is the first indication of multiple sclerosis.
• Symptoms are pain, vision loss, loss of color vision, and flashing lights.

WHAT DOES OPTIC NEURITIS LOOKS LIKE?

• Optic neuritis is the swelling in the optic nerves and has enlargement of the blood vessels around it.
• It has an effect of small blurring to complete blindness in the eye.
• The vision loss is temporary, but can be permanent in some cases.

WHO CAN DEVELOP IT?

• Young adults ages 20 to 40.
• Women are more likely to develop optic neuritis than men.
• Whites develop optic neuritis more than blacks.

TREATMENT FOR THE DISEASE

• In most cases, optic neuritis gets better without treatment.
• If needed, treatments for optic neuritis is intravenous steroid therapy.
• Intravenous steroids are used to speed vision recovery, but the affect is not good enough to recover the vision lost.
• The steroid treatment is also used to prevent the risk of multiple sclerosis.
• When the steroid treatment fail and there is still vision lost, people resort to plasma exchange therapy.

THE PERSON'S QUALITY OF LIFE

• Quality of life optic neuritis is the cause of vision loss.
• As said, the vision loss is temporary, but could be permanent if the disease becomes severe.
• There is a dull ache behind the person's eye causing pain.

LIFE EXPECTANCY WITH OPTIC NEURITIS

• Prognosis depends on the underlying cause.
• The vision can be returned to normal from two weeks to three months.
• Some people experience recurring attacks of optic neuritis with the cause of multiple sclerosis.

HOW CAN YOU GET OPTIC NEURITIS?

• Nobody knows what the exact cause of optic neuritis is.
• It is believe that optic neuritis is caused when the immune system mistakenly attacks the substance covering the optic nerves.
• Optic neuritis can cause a person to have multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica.

INTERESTING FACTS

• Certain genetic mutations cause optic neuritis.
• Optic neuritis is linked to many autoimmune diseases.
• Your optic nerve conveys images from your retina to the brain.
• Median age for this disease is 30 years old, and it occurs most often in middle aged adults.

THE END