What are the causes and symptoms of optic atrophy?
by MedExpert on November 4th, 2007 Symptoms of optic atrophy are a change in the optic disc and a decrease in visual function. This change in visual function can be a decrease in sharpness and clarity of vision (visual acuity) or decreases in side (peripheral) vision. Color vision and contrast sensitivity can also be affected. There are many possible causes of optic atrophy. The causes can range from trauma to systemic disorders. Some possible causes of optic atrophy include: • Optic neuritis. Optic neuritis is an inflammation of the optic nerve. It may be associated with eye pain worsened by eye movement. It is more common in young to middle-aged women. Some patients with optic neuritis may develop multiple sclerosis later on in life. • Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy. This is a disease of young men (late teens, early 20s), characterized by an onset over a few weeks of painless, severe, central visual loss in one eye, followed weeks or months later by the same process in the other
