Eye Stones That Tricked the Doctors
Unilateral optic disc drusen mis-diagnosed as optic neuritis: Diagnostic and therapeutic implications
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
A young woman had tiny calcium lumps on her optic nerve that looked like nerve swelling. Doctors thought it was inflammation and gave her strong steroids, but she didn’t get better and got puffy from the medicine.
Surprising Findings
Optic disc drusen caused visual field defects and abnormal VEP results—features usually linked to serious neurological diseases like MS.
Drusen are typically considered harmless and asymptomatic, yet here they mimicked a dangerous inflammatory condition.
Practical Takeaways
If you or a loved one is diagnosed with optic neuritis but aren’t improving on steroids, ask about optic disc drusen and request ultrasound or CT imaging.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
A young woman had tiny calcium lumps on her optic nerve that looked like nerve swelling. Doctors thought it was inflammation and gave her strong steroids, but she didn’t get better and got puffy from the medicine.
Surprising Findings
Optic disc drusen caused visual field defects and abnormal VEP results—features usually linked to serious neurological diseases like MS.
Drusen are typically considered harmless and asymptomatic, yet here they mimicked a dangerous inflammatory condition.
Practical Takeaways
If you or a loved one is diagnosed with optic neuritis but aren’t improving on steroids, ask about optic disc drusen and request ultrasound or CT imaging.
Publication
Journal
Romanian Journal of Ophthalmology
Year
2020
Authors
G. Bontzos, Georgios Smoustopoulos, T. Detorakis
Related Content
Claims (5)
Sometimes, young adults with a harmless eye condition called optic disc drusen can have blind spots in the upper-inner part of their vision—even if their eyesight and color vision seem totally normal. This can look like a serious brain-related eye problem, but it's actually coming from the eye itself.
If someone with a harmless eye condition called optic disc drusen gets mistaken for having optic neuritis and is given steroid treatment, they might develop side effects like a puffy face — but their vision and eye appearance won’t get better.
If a young adult has swelling in one optic nerve, doctors should consider that it might be due to harmless calcium deposits, not nerve inflammation—even if vision tests look abnormal. Mistaking it for inflammation could lead to unnecessary steroid treatment and serious side effects.
If you have a certain eye condition called optic disc drusen, a brain wave test might show delayed signals — not because of nerve damage, but just because of that eye issue. This could be mistaken for a serious nervous system disease like multiple sclerosis in young adults.
If an adult has a swollen-looking optic nerve that doesn’t go away, certain imaging tests like eye ultrasounds, CT scans, and special eye photos can help confirm whether they have small calcium-like deposits called optic disc drusen.