Optic Neuritis
Contents
In brief: Optic neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve that commonly causes subacute visual loss, reduced color vision, and sometimes pain with eye movement.
Use in multiple sclerosis
Section titled “Use in multiple sclerosis”Optic neuritis can be a first demyelinating event or an MS relapse. Typical MS-associated optic neuritis often affects one eye and evolves over hours to days, but the pattern is not reliable enough for self-diagnosis. [1]
Evaluation may include visual acuity, color testing, pupils, visual fields, fundus examination, MRI, optical coherence tomography, and visual evoked potentials. The 2024 criteria allow objective optic nerve evidence to contribute as a central nervous system location in defined circumstances. [2]
Retinal disease, ischemic optic neuropathy, compression, infection, NMOSD, MOGAD, and other inflammatory disorders can require different urgent treatment.
Clinical detail
Section titled “Clinical detail”Pain and a normal-appearing optic disc do not establish the diagnosis. Age, laterality, severity, recovery, retinal findings, lesion length, chiasmal involvement, and antibody results can shift the differential diagnosis.