Who Parked that Double-Decker Bus in My Living Room?
For reasons that remain unclear, about 20 percent of people with neuro-ophthalmic vision loss develop the vivid, recurrent visual hallucinations that characterize Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS). Physicians and family members need to ask such patients whether they are experiencing hallucinations, as many will not mention it for fear of being labeled mentally incompetent, said Mary Lou Jackson, MD, of the Harvard School of Medicine affiliate Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Jackson is an ophthalmologist who specializes in vision rehabilitation. She said health professionals often incorrectly assume CBS only occurs in those with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It is true that many AMD patients also have CBS, since AMD is the most common cause of vision loss in the elderly. In high-definition detail, CBS patients may see wild animals in their closets, familiar or unfamiliar people sitting on their couches, or incongruous but realistic images, like a double-decker bus. Others
