Optometry Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Optometry, including details on myopia, optometric practice, therapy.

Visual and perceptual consequences of congenital nystagmus.

Bedell HE

College of Optometry and Center for Neuro-engineering and Cognitive Science, University of Houston, TX 77024-2020, USA. HBedell@Optometry.UH.edu

One way to assess the influence of retinal image motion on visual functioning in congenital nystagmus (CN) is to examine the effects of comparable image motion in observers with normal vision. A second approach is to evaluate visual functioning in subjects with CN when the retinal image motion is reduced. Using these approaches, we determined that spatial contrast sensitivity and visual acuity are not limited by the parameters of retinal image motion in some subjects with CN, but rather by a form of amblyopia. Clinical evidence from patients with bilateral refractive amblyopia suggests that a gradual improvement of visual acuity may be possible in persons with CN, if the optimal refractive correction is worn and parameters of the retinal image motion undergo long-term amelioration.

Published 16 May 2006 in Semin Ophthalmol, 21(2): 91-5.
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