Large optic nerve? Visual field test?

[patches31709]

Me. I'm near sighted and have an astigmatism, and at my visit last year, my new dr was concerned. I failed the visual field test twice and got sent to a glaucoma specialist, who confirmed that for now, I'm just a crappy test taker and there aren't any signs of glaucoma. I believe my dr said I would have photos of the optic nerve taken again in a few months for comparison purposes, and maybe once a year after that?

[TrickyBob]

I have only had experience with getting a visual field test, but mine was for macular degeneration. I hope his nothing!

[suzyp]

Raises hand.

My sister and I both have to do this. Anyway, this can be a symptom of glaucoma, but for my sister and I, it's just the way our eyes are. They just check to make sure that it is not glaucoma (since I am assuming your husband is not an elderly gentleman). I started doing this when I was about 25. I have to take the test once a year or two years. I also get my eyes photographed so they can make sure that nothing has changed.

I will say the vision field test SUCKS. You stare straight ahead and try not to blink and have to hit this button everytime you see something blink in your peripheral vision. I got in trouble one time because I had a lot of errors, but it was because I did it in record time. But luckily, they didn't make me do it again.

FWIW, I started doing this at 25 (I'm 40 now) and my sister did it at the same time. They found the same issue on my poor 7 year old niece, but I don't think they are concerned she has glaucoma - yet!

[beachwinescrewsandy]

I have large optic nerves & have done visual field tests. Now they just take pictures at my annual exams bc I just have giant optic nerves.

[tacocat]

People can just have a large optic nerve physiologically. They will probably do a visual field to make sure he has no peripheral vision loss as a baseline and take some photos after he is dilated. If it is normal he may just have to repeat it every year for comparison or have pressure checks a little more often.

I get worrying (I can be a worrier) but it is not that uncommon. The visual field (depending on machine and person) can take 5-10 minutes per eye and while they will want him to look straight ahead, blinking should be allowed.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I have been on both sides of the machine many times.

Signed,

ophthalmic technician

[suzyp]

Apr 28, 2015 19:54:04 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Apr 28, 2015 19:49:42 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

I've had the VF test and it was easy peasy

Was it b/c of you optic nerve? I'm a nervous nelly, I'm trying not to google myself into a frenzy.

Try not to worry - he was probably just born like this and it's nothing to worry about. My sister and I laugh about our "special eyes." They just want to make sure that there's no problem -and if they caught it years ago and again now, it's probably just his special eyes.

[badgerwrangler]

Apr 28, 2015 20:32:08 GMT -5 mofongo said:

@volare - since his pressures are normal, if something were to be wrong it would be normal pressure glaucoma. Do you know anything about that? Can it just happen normally, or is it associated with some other diseases process?

I'm not volare but I am an optometrist so I can answer

With glaucoma, there are 3 things that we look at; pressures, the appearance of the optic nerve and visual fields.  You can absolutely have a large amount of cupping of the optic nerve (as your husband does) and not have glaucoma.  It can be a sign of glaucoma but some people just naturally have optic nerves with a lot of cupping.

The visual fields are done as a baseline mostly so that he can be monitored over the years.  Glaucoma is a very slow moving disease.  I often tell people that we may monitor them for their whole lives and they may never be diagnosed with glaucoma.  We just have to be extra careful and make sure that the patient doesn't develop glaucoma.

We check everyone's pressures and assess their optic nerves and if it is indicated (high pressures, large optic nerve cupping, asymmetric optic nerve cupping), we will also check their visual fields.

HTH

[tacocat]

Apr 28, 2015 20:32:08 GMT -5 mofongo said:

tacocat - since his pressures are normal, if something were to be wrong it would be normal pressure glaucoma. Do you know anything about that? Can it just happen normally, or is it associated with some other diseases process?

If it is normal tension glaucoma they usually look at family history and ethnicity but I have not seen them get concerned about any systemic conditions. I double checked on AAO and it looks like it can be related to an irregular heart rate or other heart disease, so while there is a link, the glaucoma doctors I worked with didn't use a diagnosis of normal tension (or it can be called low tension glaucoma) as a reason to be concerned about conditions that they are not otherwise aware of.

If it is glaucoma they usually start drops first to bring the pressure down to a much lower level than they would want a "normal" eye to be at. Even that level - the target IOP - varies person to person because the thickness of the cornea (clear covering on the eye) varies person to person and alters the reading that they get.

If drops don't lower it enough they will sometimes progress to a laser or surgery, but that is getting to deeply into it. 


Did I help or make it more confusing?

ETA: listen to her above, lol

[badgerwrangler]

No problem mofongo

[LoveTrains]

So I have idiopathic intracranial hypertension and it presents with a swollen/large optic nerve (papillodema). I get a visual field test about once every three months and they do stress me out. It's not painful but I get dry eye from my contacts and it's hard not to blink.

It's just to check to make sure you don't have vision loss.

[lexxasaurus]

Apr 28, 2015 19:54:04 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Apr 28, 2015 19:49:42 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

I've had the VF test and it was easy peasy

Was it b/c of you optic nerve? I'm a nervous nelly, I'm trying not to google myself into a frenzy.

Don't be panicking. I have symptoms of glaucoma, which runs in my family, and so far I'm fine. Instead of being perfectly round where the optic nerve is, mine is somewhat oblong and there is some thinning on one side. Yearly I go in and they numb my eyeballs, poke it for manual pressure, take and new scan and have me do the VF test.

It's very possible it could be nothing, but he'll have a good baseline if anything changes!

[cookie510]

I have a large cup to disc ratio (not sure if it's the same thing) and it can be a symptom of glaucoma. I had a bunch of tests done a while ago, including a visual field test and now they just monitor it and I'm fine. I was probably born like this.

The VF test is fine, just annoying. Like others have said you have to click a button when you see a light spot, I just saw spots the whole time. And it take a while. Not a big deal though.

[pretzel]

So I take the visual field test regularly to check for a different condition...I have completely normal pressure, but the test caught glaucoma.

My point is, there's no need to panic. The only thing that's changed in my life is that I put drops in my eyes in the morning and in the evening. That's it. It's really no big deal because it was discovered so early.

[patches31709]

Apr 28, 2015 21:01:46 GMT -5 kooshball said:

I have had a few visual field tests and omg they suck... I hate them. I rather be poked by a needle than do one of those.

Yeah they definitely suck. I always find myself falling into a rhythm with the machine sounds and then clicking, which gets me into trouble. Then one time, the lady giving the test told me to slow down, I was clicking too much, so then I totally started second-guessing if I was seeing flashes or not. She's the one that messed me up enough to fail twice and end up with a visit to a glaucoma specialist. 

[cookie510]

Apr 29, 2015 8:19:09 GMT -5 patches31709 said:

Apr 28, 2015 21:01:46 GMT -5 kooshball said:

I have had a few visual field tests and omg they suck... I hate them. I rather be poked by a needle than do one of those.

Yeah they definitely suck. I always find myself falling into a rhythm with the machine sounds and then clicking, which gets me into trouble. Then one time, the lady giving the test told me to slow down, I was clicking too much, so then I totally started second-guessing if I was seeing flashes or not. She's the one that messed me up enough to fail twice and end up with a visit to a glaucoma specialist. 

That's what happens to me! I just keep clicking because I feel like I always see the spot!

[LoveTrains]

Apr 29, 2015 8:24:10 GMT -5 mofongo said:

I found an online visual field test, lol, we both took it and passed. I'm sure it's scientifically accurate:/

You have to do one eye at a time at the doctor. They will put an eye patch over the other eye so you can pretend to be a pirate. 

[macmars45]

Apr 28, 2015 19:34:32 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

I have only had experience with getting a visual field test, but mine was for macular degeneration. I hope his nothing!

Same except replace macular degeneration with crappy peripheral vision because of cerebral palsy.

[cleo29]

Yes. My left is larger than my right, but I have to go back in and get the second visual field study that has a larger scope.

Some people are born that way, but this way he will have a baseline to go off of.