Optic Neuritis: Evaluation of Visual Acuity and Contrast Sensitivity. A Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: To assess visual acuity and contrast sensitivity in various form of Optic neuritis patients. Study Design and Settings: It was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted in eye department of Teaching hospital, University of Lahore Pakistan. Total duration of the study was 4 months from January 2022-April 2022. Methods: A total of 32 patients were included in the study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted for sampling. Patients age 15-45 were included in the study. A detailed eye examination was done in patients presented to eye department with pain and evaluated for optic neuritis, and demographics along with clinical signs and symptoms were documented using a proforma. Results: Total 32 patients were included in the study having Optic Neuritis. Mean age of the patients was 29 ±8.3SD (Range 15-45). The optic neuritis was divided into further sub-divisions, i.e. Pappilits 11 patients, Retrobulbar Neuritis 14 patients and neuroretinitis 7 patients. A paired t test comparing contrast sensitivity before and after treatment showed a significance of .03 improvement after treatment. In spite of the fact that the results demonstrated that contrast sensitivity did not return to normal, they did show that with prompt treatment, a substantial improvement in contrast sensitivity was possible. Same significance of .02 was found for improvement in VA post-operatively when a paired t test was applied. Conclusion: Vision and contrast sensitivity both are affected in ON, however VA can be improved to normal vision after treatment, but contrast seldom improve to its normal value.