Vision loss and hallucination bothering veterans
Exposure to combat explosions is quite harmful to eyesight, which has been testified by a study by Veterans Administration. At the joint meeting of the AAO and PAAO, the study revealed that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans’ quality of life are much poorer than comparable civilian patients because of traumatic brain injury. Another part of the study involved with the ways to care for patients suffering from vivid visual hallucinations caused by Charles Bonnet syndrome.
In general, traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused by exposure to combat explosions, so that soldiers are quite susceptible to TBI. Some researchers at the Veterans Administration Palo Alto Department of Ophthalmology under Stanford University assessed visual function and occult eye injuries in 42 veterans. Two standard quality of life tests are used to evaluate these veterans with blast-related TBI, including the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) and Neuro-Ophthalmic supplement (NOS).
According to results of the tests, VFQ-25 scores gained by veterans were much lower than reference patients with other diseases, such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes. Scores of veterans on the NOS were similar to that of VFQ-25. According to the researchers, VFQ-25 and NOS tests were sensitive to vision loss in patients with blast-related TBI. The eyes and related tissues are quite vulnerable to blast forces without proper protection during explosions.
In addition, the study also pointed out that vivid visual hallucination can happen to about 20% patients with neuro-ophthalmic vision loss. As a main symptom of Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS), visual hallucination is often neglected by the patients deliberately. These patients are afraid of being considered as mentally incompetent once physicians or family members know their neuro-ophthalmic vision loss.
There are many special experiences in CBS patients. They may see wild animals in their closets, familiar or unfamiliar people sitting on their couches, or incongruous but realistic images and so on. CBS patients often lose the ability to differentiate hallucination from reality. Age related macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss in the old and CBS always accompanies AMD. But CBS is not confined to AMD patients.