Optic nerve disease treatment. Optic neuritis. Symptoms and treatment. What is optic neuritis

Neuritis optic nerve is an inflammation of the optic nerve.

The optic nerve is a connection of more than 1 million sensory processes or axons of retinal nerve cells that transmit information about the perceived image in the form of electrical impulses to the brain. AT occipital lobe brain, this information is finally processed and a person gets the opportunity to see everything that surrounds him.

The optic nerve originates from a small section, the so-called disk or head of the optic nerve, located inside eyeball and accessible by special inspection. Further, when leaving the eyeball, the optic nerve is wrapped in several sheaths at once, providing a higher speed of signal transmission, as well as protecting and nourishing the nerve. After passing through the tissues of the orbit, it enters the cranial cavity through a small opening in bone tissue and further, connecting with the optic nerve on the other hand, it partially exchanges its axons - this area is called chiasm, and here the optic nerve ends. The sheaths and subshell space of the optic nerve are closely related to the brain, therefore, with inflammatory diseases of the brain or increased intracranial pressure the optic nerve may also be affected.

Depending on which part of the optic nerve is damaged, inflammation of the intraocular part of the nerve or papillitis and retrobulbar neuritis are isolated - if the part of the optic nerve behind the eyeball is damaged.

Causes of neuritis

The causes of optic neuritis are quite diverse, in principle it can be any acute or chronic infection. Among them: flu, tonsillitis, inflammatory diseases brain and its membranes, inflammatory diseases paranasal sinuses nose, dental diseases, inflammatory diseases of the eye and orbit, injuries of the eyeball. Also various systemic diseases: kidney disease, diabetes, diseases of the blood and connective tissue, multiple sclerosis, allergic conditions, beriberi, alcohol and tobacco abuse, lead poisoning and methyl alcohol and others.

Symptoms

The disease develops suddenly, often against the background of general well-being. Patients complain about a sharp decline vision, decreased color vision, a spot in front of the eye, which may be present constantly or appear periodically. There may be flashes in front of the eye. Very often, especially with retrobulbar neuritis, there is a bursting headache on the side of the injured nerve, pain behind the eye, aggravated by moving the eyes.

Diagnostics

Diagnosis of optic neuritis includes a detailed survey of comorbidities and conditions that could lead to an inflammatory process in the optic nerve.

Visual acuity is checked, visual fields are checked - they are characterized by the loss of any areas in the field of view. When checking, color perception is reduced, and samples showing the functional ability of the optic nerve, for example, the critical frequency of flicker fusion, will also be reduced. When examining the anterior segment of the eye, no features are detected, and when examining the fundus, changes are recorded only with inflammation of the intraocular part of the optic nerve. At the same time, redness of the optic nerve head is noted, its boundaries become fuzzy, the vessels are dilated, there may be small hemorrhages. In the case of retrobulbar neuritis, examination of the fundus and anterior segment does not provide any information - in this case, the diagnosis is made on the basis of characteristic complaints and functional disorders on the side of the injured nerve.

Treatment

Treatment of optic neuritis must necessarily take place in a hospital.

Antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, detoxification therapy, antispasmodic and vitamin therapy are used to treat neuritis. Against the background of treatment, with a favorable outcome, vision and other functions of the eye are restored. But sometimes, especially if the treatment is not started in a timely manner, the visual functions of the eye remain low and inflammation of the nerve leads to destruction. sensitive cells, the so-called atrophy of the optic nerve. Therefore, it is very important to consult an ophthalmologist as soon as possible in case of decreased vision or other eye complaints.

A sharp decrease in vision is an occasion to visit not only an ophthalmologist, but also a specialist in neurology.

Eye diseases are usually accompanied by a gradual loss of the ability to see.

Therefore, in the case of optic neuritis, symptoms and treatment should be approached very seriously.

Rapid deterioration of vision may indicate concomitant neurological pathology, in particular, on optic neuritis - inflammation, leading to changes in the structure of the nervous tissue.

Neuritis can appear at any age, but is more common in people under 50 years of age. common feature considered fast developing decline vision.

are considered characteristic the following symptoms optic neuritis:

• Sensation of a "grid" before the eyes
• Yellowish white color
• Impaired color perception
• blind spots
• Decreased vision felt in hot weather
• Pain in the eyes
• twilight vision disorder
• Visual field changes

Types of optic neuritis

Depending on which part of the optic nerve is inflamed, the following types of neuritis are distinguished:

• Papillitis- damage to the intraocular segment of the optic nerve. It stands out in a special variety. With ophthalmoscopy, this area is clearly visible, unlike the rest of the parts.

The disease progresses rapidly. Observed sharp deterioration vision, changes in visual fields and color perception. Main symptom- decrease in vision from the stage of a blind spot to the loss of the ability to see. On examination, there is swelling and infiltrates in the retina, dilated vessels.

• At retrobulbar neuritis inflammatory processes develop in other parts of the nerve.

On examination, there are often no obvious abnormalities. Patients complain about dull pain when moving the eyeball, on the loss of parts of the field of view.

For more information about this type of disease, see the video:

The allocation of these types according to the topographic feature is conditional, since inflammation can also affect neighboring sections of the optic nerve. There are forms of neuritis according to the depth of the inflammatory focus:

• Perineuritis- inflammation that affects the sheaths of the optic nerve.
• Axial neuritis- inflammation of the macular area.
• Total form- inflammation of all layers.

Causes of neuritis

The mechanism of development of this disease is not entirely clear to modern scientists. Provoking factors include the following:

• Infectious diseases (influenza, measles, meningitis, encephalitis)
• Systemic diseases (diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, blood and kidney diseases)
• Inflammatory eye diseases
• Chronic course of sinusitis, periodontitis
• Excessive use of alcohol and tobacco
• Nutrient deficiency
• Poisoning harmful substances(lead, methanol)
• Tumor metastases
• Insect bites

Diagnostics

Diagnosis is difficult when it is necessary to distinguish neuritis occurring in mild form, without severe visual impairment, from other eye diseases. One of the signs of neuritis is pain syndrome when moving the eyeballs. Diagnostics is carried out by the following methods:

1. Ophthalmoscopy

2. Samples of pupils for light reaction

3. Perimetry

4. EFI eyes

6. MRI of the brain

Optic neuritis. Treatment

Treatment is usually carried out in a hospital. Until the causes of the disease are clarified, the following drugs are prescribed:

• Antibiotics to suppress infection
• Dehydration aids
• Detoxification drugs
• Anti-inflammatory drugs
• vitamin therapy
• Preparations to improve microcirculation
• Means for reducing hypersensitivity

After clarifying the origin of the disease, a course of treatment is carried out aimed at eliminating the cause of the disease. In some cases, decompression of the optic nerve sheath is indicated - its opening in order to reduce pressure in the nerve.

Optic neuritis. Treatment with folk methods

The use of traditional medicine is possible with the consent of the attending physician. Self-medication is unacceptable: optic neuritis can result in complete and irreversible loss of vision. Funds plant origin are good as additional measures.

1. You will need one tablespoon of dried nettle per glass of water. Bring to a boil, leave for an hour, then drink a little before meals.

2. Squeeze the juice out fresh leaves aloe, add boiled water in a ratio of one part to five. Use in the form of lotions.

3. Pine cones have a healing effect. They improve the condition of blood vessels and stop the destruction of brain cells.

To prepare the syrup, you need a glass of green cones. Grind them, pour 2-3 liters of water. Add 4-5 spoons of fragrant rue, chopped lemon and sugar in the amount of 200-250 g. Keep on fire for about 30 minutes, then filter. Drink one spoonful of syrup three times a day before meals.

4. Fresh milk contains a variety of nutrients: vitamins, amino acids, trace elements, fatty acid. ethnoscience recommends the use of neuritis natural milk fresh.

5. Raspberry has anti-inflammatory and antipyretic properties. Pour 200-250 g of berries with a liter of water, bring to a boil and leave for two hours. Then it is necessary to strain and take three times a day.

Prevention

Preventive measures are aimed at maintaining healthy condition body:

• Prevent and timely treat ENT diseases, caries
• Give up bad habits
• See a neurologist for anxiety symptoms
• Avoid traumatic situations

Optic neuritis may resolve on its own within a week or a few days.

However, there is a risk of death of the optic nerve fibers, and, as a result, deterioration or loss visual function. Therefore, at the first sign of decreased vision, you should immediately contact a specialist.

Inflammation of the orbital part of the optic nerve is called retrobulbar neuritis and accounts for the remaining 65%. Much less common are forms such as perineuritis and neuroretinitis (concomitant inflammation of RNFL with delayed macular star formation). In 30% of cases, the disease is bilateral.

To infectious factors, causing development retrobulbar neuritis, include Varicella Zoster, tuberculosis, syphilis, mononucleosis, borreliosis and bartonellosis, encephalitis.

Parainfectious factors are childhood infections and post-vaccination reactions.

We must also not forget the existence non-infectious factors(sarcoidosis, SLE, vasculitis) and idiopathic forms of retrobulbar neuritis.

The prevalence of the disease reaches 115 per 100,000 population. Retrobulbar neuritis occurs in the Nordic countries 8 times more often than in Asia and Africa.

Treatment is pathogenetic, most cases resolve incidentally.

Causes of optic neuritis

Optic neuritis is most common in adults between 20 and 40 years of age. Often, optic neuritis is primary manifestation multiple sclerosis. It also occurs with the following diseases:

• infectious diseases ( viral diseases(especially in children), sinusitis);
• metastasis in the optic nerve;
• chemical poisoning and drugs (lead compounds, arsenic, methanol, quinine, some antibiotics).

AT rare cases may be triggered by diabetes, severe anemia, systemic autoimmune diseases, endocrine ophthalmopathy, bee sting or injury. Often, the underlying cause of neuritis remains unspecified despite careful examination.

Symptoms and signs of optic neuritis

Clinical picture: a typical patient model is a young white woman. A rapid and pronounced decrease in visual acuity is characteristic, and it can continue to deteriorate for another 2-15 days from the onset of the disease. With a unilateral process, a relative pupillary defect develops. In 92% of cases, pain occurs during movements of the eyeball, which is explained by the attachment of the tendon of the medial rectus muscle in the immediate vicinity of the sheaths of the optic nerve. Over 90% of patients report a violation color perception especially red. Typical are a decrease in contrast sensitivity and a variety of visual field defects (diffuse depression of sensitivity in the 30-degree zone, altitudinal or arcuate scotomas, para-/central or centrocecal prolapse). In addition, patients have the phenomenon of Pulfrich (Pulfrich) - the illusion of the movement of the pendulum along an elliptical trajectory. Symptoms worsen with an increase in body temperature (Uhthoff phenomenon).

Retrobulbar neuritis is characterized by a normal ophthalmoscopic picture (“neither the doctor nor the patient sees anything”).

Often manifestations of neurological deficit - numbness, paresthesia, local muscle weakness.

The main symptom is deterioration of vision within one to two days, from a small central or near-central scotoma up to complete blindness. In most patients, it is accompanied by moderate eye pain, often aggravated by movement of the eyeball.

If at the same time the optic disc is edematous, then this condition is called papillitis. If there is no edema, then it is classified as retrobulbar neuritis. Often accompanied by a decrease in visual acuity, a visual field defect and a violation of color perception (independent of the degree of visual acuity reduction). If the other eye is not affected by the pathological process or is affected to a lesser extent, then an afferent pupillary defect may be observed. A test for color vision. In two-thirds of patients, neuritis is retrobulbar in nature, so the fundus may be without visible changes. In the remaining third of patients, the disk is hyperemic, may be edematous or edema of the surrounding tissues is observed, the vessels are full-blooded, a combination of all these symptoms is possible. There may be exudate or hemorrhage around or directly on the disc.

Diagnosis of optic neuritis

• Clinical examination.

Suspect optic neuritis in patients with characteristic pain and visual impairment. Neuroimaging by MRI, preferably with gadolinium, is recommended. In this case, you can see a thickened, enlarged optic nerve. MRI can also show signs of multiple sclerosis. The FLAIR MRI mode can show typical areas of demyelination in the periventricular region if optic neuritis is associated with demyelination.

Laboratory diagnostics is mainly aimed at confirming or excluding infectious, para-infectious and non-infectious causes of the development of retrobulbar neuritis. Uninformative in the demyelinating nature of the disease.

MRI of the head and spinal cord and orbits with intravenous gadolinium contrast and fat suppression allows to detect characteristic hyperintense ovoid periventricular plaques with a diameter of at least 3 mm on T2-weighted image.

The main type of neuritis in children is papillitis. More often than in the adult population, it is bilateral in nature, accompanied by a more pronounced decrease in visual acuity and its not so significant recovery (03 > 0.5 in 76% of cases). Ophthalmoscopy reveals hyperemia and blurring of the ONH contours, disappearance of physiological excavation and prominence of the disc into the vitreous chamber, plethora of veins and parapapillary streak-like hemorrhages. A cell suspension in the Martejani space is possible.

Prognosis of optic neuritis

The prognosis largely depends on the course of the underlying disease. Most episodes resolve spontaneously with return of vision after 2 or 3 months. In many patients with a typical picture of optic neuritis in the absence of causing it systemic diseases vision is restored, but in more than 25% of patients the disease is recurrent with subsequent return of symptoms. Recurrence of symptoms can occur both in the previously affected eye and in the other. An MRI is recommended.

Regardless of the treatment, restoration of visual functions begins in 2-3 weeks: in 69% of cases, visual acuity 1-3 months after the first attack of retrobulbar neuritis reaches 1.0, in 93% - 0.5. Only in 3% of patients the final visual acuity does not exceed 0.1.

Treatment of optic neuritis

Corticosteroids are recommended, especially if multiple sclerosis is suspected. Prescribe methylprednisolone for 3 days, followed by prednisolone for 11 days. The effect of this treatment regimen is delayed. IV corticosteroids may delay the onset of multiple sclerosis by at least 2 years. Treatment with oral prednisone alone will not improve vision and may increase the risk of recurrence of optic neuritis. Useful application aids for the visually impaired (loupes, large print, talking clock).

According to the ONTT recommendations, the treatment of retrobulbar neuritis of a demyelinating nature begins with the administration of methylprednisolone once a day for three days, followed by an eleven-day by oral administration prednisolone with a gradual withdrawal of therapy over the next three days. Hormone therapy speeds up recovery, but does not increase the final visual acuity. It is advisable to use immunomodulators.

Retrobulbar neuritis of an infectious nature requires appropriate etiotropic therapy. The non-infectious and autoimmune variety requires glucocorticoid and immunomodulatory therapy.

Typical mistakes in the treatment of optic neuritis

• Limitation hormone therapy oral administration of prednisone alone is impractical, as it is fraught with an increased risk of recurrent attacks.
• The visual prognosis in blacks is worse than in white patients.
• The only predictor of final visual acuity is the degree of its decrease in the midst of retrobulbar neuritis.

Key points

• Optic neuritis is more common in patients aged 20 to 40 years.
• It is most commonly caused by multiple sclerosis, but can also result from infections, tumors, medicines, toxins and other causes.
• May be accompanied by moderate pain when moving the eyeball, visual disturbances (especially loss of color vision).
• An MRI with gadolinium is recommended.

Defeat ophthalmic nerve is a pathology that is characterized by inflammation of the nerve sheaths or fibers. Its symptoms can be: soreness when moving the eyeballs, blurred vision, changes in color perception, photopsia, the eye may swell. Patients may complain of a decrease in the peripheral field of vision, vomiting, nausea, darkening in the eyes, fever. Each form of damage to the optic nerve has its own symptoms.

Intrabulbar neuritis develops suddenly and acutely, and the nerve is completely or partially affected. Total inflammation greatly impairs vision, sometimes blindness occurs. characteristic feature disease is considered to be the formation of livestock. A person has impaired adaptation in the dark, the perception of colors. After a month, the symptoms may subside, and with severe course blindness develops, atrophy nerve fibers.

The most important clinical sign intracranial retrobulbar inflammation is considered low vision. Symptoms include decreased ability to see, pain in the eye socket. The transversal form of retrobulbar neuritis is severe. In many cases, the person goes blind. During the first three weeks of the course of the disease, changes in the fundus are not observed, but they manifest themselves later.

Symptoms may vary depending on the causes that caused inflammation of the nerve:

• If the disease is caused by rhinitis, then the patient complains of a deterioration in visual acuity, poor perception bright colors, changing the size of the blind spot.
• With syphilis, minor defects are observed in the form of reddening of the disc. In a severe form of the disease, sharpness and peripheral vision worsen.
• Neuritis caused by tuberculosis is characterized by the development of a tumor-like formation that completely covers the optic disc. Sometimes it goes to the retina.
• Damage to the optic nerve in typhus is considered dangerous. If the disease is neglected, then after a few weeks, nervous atrophy occurs.
• With malaria, one optic nerve suffers, swelling develops.

The reasons

One of the factors that can provoke diseases of the optic nerve is multiple sclerosis. This damages the myelin that covers nerve cells spinal cord and brain. Brain damage develops immune system. People with brain disorders are at risk. Damage to the optic nerve is caused by autoimmune diseases like sarcoidosis, lupus erythematosus.

Optic neuromyelitis leads to the development of neuritis. This happens because the disease is accompanied by inflammation of the spinal cord and optic nerve, but damage to brain cells does not occur. The appearance of neuritis is provoked by other factors:

• The presence of cranial arteritis, characterized by inflammation of the intracranial arteries. Violations occur in the blood circulation, blocking the flow to the cells of the brain and eyes required amount oxygen. Such phenomena provoke a stroke, loss of vision in the future.
• Viral, infectious, bacterial diseases, measles, syphilis, disease cat scratches, herpes, rubella, Lyme disease, neuroretinitis lead to inflammation of the nerve, the development of chronic or purulent conjunctivitis.
• Long-term use of certain medicines, which are capable of provoking the development of inflammation of the nerve ("Ethambuton", prescribed in the treatment of tuberculosis).
• radiation therapy. Appointed at certain diseases that run hard.
• A variety of mechanical effects - severe intoxication of the body, tumors, insufficient supply of nutrients to the cornea, retina.

Diagnostic methods

Methods for detecting inflammation of the optic nerve are based on clinical manifestations, since in most cases the pathology is not detected when examining the fundus. To exclude the presence of multiple sclerosis, a study of cerebrospinal fluid, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is performed. With the help of timely diagnosis, you can prevent and cure this disease, otherwise blindness and nerve atrophy will develop.

This diagnostic method refers to objective research methods when contrasting vessels inside the eye with fluorescein, which is administered intravenously. At pathological conditions eye barriers that work normally are destroyed, and the bottom of the eye takes on a form that is characteristic of a particular process. The interpretation of fluorescein angiograms is based on a comparison of the characteristics of the passage of fluorescein through the wall of the retina and choroidal vessels with clinical picture illness. The price of the study is 2500-3000 rubles.

Electrophysiological study

Such diagnostic procedure is a series of highly informative methods for studying the functions of the retina, optic nerve, and areas of the cerebral cortex. An electrophysiological study of the eye is based on recording its response to specific stimuli. The ophthalmologist and the doctor who conducts the study work closely with each other to set the right task and decide on the diagnostic method. This study is considered the most informative and effective. The cost of diagnostics is 2500-4000 rubles.

Treatment

If inflammation is suspected, the patient is required to urgent hospitalization. While the cause of the disease remains unknown, therapy is carried out to suppress infection, reducing the intensity of the inflammatory process. Tablets are prescribed for desensitization, dehydration, improvement metabolic processes in nerve fibers and tissues, increasing the body's immune forces. Medical staff prescribe a course of antibiotics or sulfonamide solutions intramuscularly for up to seven days.

Treatment of neuritis involves the use of corticosteroids simultaneously with Prednisolone. Diacarb is taken orally, which reduces the severity of edema. At the same time, "Panangin" is prescribed to reduce symptoms, "Trental" or " A nicotinic acid"- to improve blood circulation. Piracetam, a complex of vitamins of group B, is taken inside, injections of Actovegin are prescribed. For several months, "Dibazol" is prescribed.

When the cause of the development of the pathology is clarified, therapy is carried out aimed at its eradication (the use of antiviral drugs, anti-tuberculosis, etc.), further rehabilitation, prevention with the use of tablets and ointments. If bilateral toxic retrobulbar neuritis is diagnosed, which occurs in response to the administration of methyl alcohol, a similar treatment is prescribed without antibacterial medicines.

Which doctors should be contacted

With a decrease in vision, the occurrence of pain during the movement of the eyeballs, with narrowing and loss of areas of the field of vision, you should immediately contact an ophthalmologist. He deals with the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of eye diseases. During the appointment, the ophthalmologist will carefully listen to your complaints, determine visual acuity, examine the transparent media of the eye, the fundus, measure intraocular pressure. After that appoint additional methods diagnosis and treatment.

Where to treat eye disease

When choosing a clinic for the treatment of vision pathologies, pay attention to the ability of the medical institution to provide complete and timely diagnosis, effective and modern methods therapies and their costs. Consider the level of equipment of the hospital, the professionalism of specialists. The experience of physicians helps to achieve best results in the treatment of eye diseases. Below you will find a list of clinics in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where you can go for inflammation of the optic nerve:

• Clinic "Echinacea", Moscow, st. Skladochnaya, d. 6, p. 7. Treatment of neuritis is carried out here in four directions: examination, elimination of the factor that caused harm, stopping the destruction of the nerve, blocking the activity of the infection, stimulating regeneration.
• Moscow Eye Clinic, Moscow, Semenovsky lane, 11. This is an ophthalmological center high level which provides treatment, prevention, diagnosis eye diseases. The clinic employs leading ophthalmologists who have extensive practical experience and scientific achievements. The medical institution is equipped with innovative world-class operating and diagnostic equipment, which allows complex operations and diagnostics.
• Center eye surgery, Moscow, Smolensky boulevard, 2. The staff of this institution consists of specialists international level. Implemented into practice the latest technology. The participation of specialists in pathology conferences, the study of new ophthalmological trends helps to ensure the safety and quality of services.
• Ophthalmological center ARTOKS, Moscow, st. Gilyarovsky, 39. This medical institution combined the main methods of traditional ophthalmology and modern technologies.
• Clinic "Medinef", St. Petersburg, st. Botkinskaya, 15, bldg. 1. A multidisciplinary highly professional medical institution that owns unique technique prevention and prognosis of early stages of diseases. The clinic cooperates with many medical institutes, leading medical and preventive institutions in Russia.
• Ophthalmological clinic"Excimer", St. Petersburg, Apraskin pereulok, 6. This medical institution has been operating for 17 years. Offers a full range of high-tech services for children and adults. The clinic has modern diagnostic equipment, unique microsurgical systems, uses advanced technologies and methods for solving various eye problems. It employs high-class ophthalmologists of various specializations.
• Medical Center"Eleos", St. Petersburg, Bolshevik Ave., 25/1. The activities of this institution are based on the organization of the work of a wide range of specialists who are proficient in modern instrumental and clinical methods research.

Optic neuritis is a disease inflammatory nature that affects the optic nerve fibers. Inflammation affects both the tissue and the sheaths of the nerve. Usually this disease progresses against the background of diseases of a neurological nature, in which there is destruction of the fibers responsible for the full conduction of nerve impulses.

Due to the inflammatory process, mechanical fibers are compressed, as a result of which they cease to fully receive the necessary nutrients and die. In the place where the fiber died, grows connective tissue, and the optic nerve gradually atrophies. If, when the first symptoms of the disease appear, it is not carried out complete treatment, then the visual function will gradually decrease, up to complete blindness.

Optic neuritis is of two types:

• simple neuritis. In this case, the inflammation affects only the optic nerve head. It does not apply to nearby tissues;
• retrobulbar optic neuritis. Inflammation affects the nerve fibers located behind the eyeball. Retrobulbar optic neuritis is diagnosed more often.

This type of neuritis usually affects one eye first, and after a week the inflammation spreads to the second. There are two flow options pathological process- acute and chronic. With an acute variant, a person loses vision in a maximum of three days, with a chronic variant, visual function is lost slowly.

Etiology

There are quite a few reasons that could provoke the progression of optic neuritis. It should be noted that damage to the nerve disk is one of the signs of the presence of neurological pathologies in the body.

• inflammatory diseases that affect the brain;
• the presence, and other ailments;
• infectious diseases with chronic course-, angina, and so on;
• complicated pregnancy;
• ailments non-infectious nature– blood pathologies, etc.;
• progression;
• organism intoxication drugs, alcohol;
• inflammation inside the shell of the eye;
• eye injury varying degrees gravity ( common cause disease development);
• the presence in the body of neoplasms of a benign and malignant nature.

Symptoms

The clinic changes as optic neuritis progresses. On the early stage of the disease, only a slight reddening of the nerve disk is noted, and its contours become less clear. Feeding it blood vessels increase in size. If the inflammation is not eliminated by this stage, then the pathological exudate that impregnates the disc will begin to stand out. As a result, its tissues will swell. vitreous body becomes cloudy and hyperemia of the disk itself increases. Later, plasmorrhagia and hemorrhage appear on it and in the peripapillary sections.

Symptoms can appear both abruptly and gradually (it all depends on the variant of the course of the disease). It is worth noting that the first sign of optic neuritis is a decrease in visual acuity. Later, the following symptoms join:

• pain when moving the eyeball. As the pathology progresses, the pain syndrome can occur even in a state of complete rest;
• decreased perception of colors;
• headache;
• a person has twilight vision(characteristic symptom);
• hyperthermia;
• range peripheral vision significantly reduced;
• a symptom such as nausea is not always noted;
• visual function decreases after taking a shower, visiting a sauna or bath, etc.;
• There is a blind spot in the center of the visual field.

Diagnostic measures

If at least one of these symptoms appears, you should immediately visit medical institution to diagnose, confirm or refute the diagnosis, as well as to establish the true cause that provoked the progression of the disease. The standard diagnostic plan includes the following:

• ophthalmological examination;
• pupillary reaction to light (the pupil in the affected eye practically does not react to a light stimulus);
• examination of the disc in the fundus with an ophthalmoscope;
• electrophysiological study;
• MRI of the brain.

Sometimes a consultation with narrow specialists is prescribed to accurately confirm the diagnosis and establish true reason disease progression.

Treatment

Optic neuritis involves treatment in a hospital setting so that doctors can monitor the patient's condition. The main method of treatment is medication. Its main goal is to eliminate inflammatory process, as well as suppress the pathogenic activity of infectious agents. To treat optic neuritis, doctors prescribe:

• corticosteroids;
• anti-inflammatory drugs. Release form - drops, ointments, tablets. Perhaps the appointment of injections;
• antibiotics. As a rule, preference is given to broad-spectrum drugs;
• drugs that positively affect blood microcirculation;
• prednisolone.

In severe clinical situations, resort to surgical technique treatment. The surgeon performs decompression of the optic nerve sheath - opens its sheaths, thereby reducing pressure in the nerve, provoked inflammatory edema. As a rule, in this case, the symptoms of the pathology disappear very quickly. The prognosis is positive.

Treatment of pathology with folk remedies is not advisable, especially when acute form. The lack of adequate and timely therapy can cause not only a decrease in visual function, but also complete blindness. Therefore, any folk remedies for the treatment of neuritis at home should be excluded.

It should be noted that in the case of a full-fledged therapy of the disease, the prognosis is quite optimistic. Usually vision is gradually restored within one month, but full recovery occurs only after a few months. After therapy, the patient should be periodically examined by his attending physician to eliminate the risk of relapse.

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Diseases with similar symptoms:

Retrobulbar neuritis is an inflammatory disease that develops as a result of damage to the nerve fibers of the eyeball. It is characterized by a gradual decrease in visual function. Also, clinicians consider this disease one of the first manifestations of multiple sclerosis. Retrobulbar neuritis usually "attacks" people from age category from 25 to 35 years old.