Pearls: Visual Loss

ABSTRACT

The clinician who is evaluating a patient with visual loss faces a large initial differential diagnosis. By taking a systematic approach to the history of the present illness, including reviewing systems, examination, and subsequent testing, several potential pitfalls will be avoided, and a brief differential diagnosis list can be generated. This article uses illustrative cases to present a variety of history, examination, and testing pearls for diagnosing the source of visual loss.

KEYWORDS

Optic neuropathy - optic neuritis - ischemic optic neuropathy - central retinal artery occlusion - perimetry - giant cell arteritis - erythrocyte sedimentation rate - C-reactive protein - relative afferent pupillary defect

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