Is Optic Nerve Damage Permanent

Lenworth N. Johnson, MDLenworth N. Johnson, M.D., a physician at the Mason Eye Institute, does not believe that Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy has to be a permanent condition.  In fact, Johnson thinks he may have found a way to improve vision loss in recent onset cases of NAION.

NAION is a condition that involves optic nerve damage.  The result is a sudden loss of vision, which usually occurs during or soon after sleep.  Approximately 20 - 40 new cases of NAION are reported each year in Missouri.

A surgery previously designed to combat NAION, Ischemic Optic Decompression, proved to be of no benefit.  This left earlier cases of NAION with no options other than the hope that their condition would improve on its own. Johnson first used the drug levodopa to cure a patient’s amblyopia, or “lazy eye.”  Although the patient’s amblyopia did not improve, his NAION did.  After a non-randomized retrospective case-control study, Johnson and his colleagues found that more than 75% of patients treated with levodopa within 45 days of onset of NAION had improvement of visual acuity, or sharpness of vision.

Physicians around the nation are following Johnson’s lead.

"This relatively new information is being used by other neuro-ophthalmologists in the U.S., the exact number is uncertain,” Johnson said.

 

 
 University of Missouri - Columbia University of Missouri System