A 42 year old man has lost part of his left eye vision suddenly and sees things in black/white! What's this?

Question

He can't see the corner of the objects such that if a object is rectangular he would see it circular. I do ephasize that this has happened just for his left eye and just in a sudden! Before that event he didn't have any problem and didn't even wear glasses! Can u say what the disease is and can he recover from that! Also the doctors have said that it's related to the optical nerves! I just wanna know how much it is dangerous!

Answer 1

First of all, if he hasn't been to see an ophthalmologist (not an optometrist), he really needs to go ASAP. I know that partial vision loss can be a symptom of a stroke, but I don't think that would explain the black and white vision. He may have Macular Degeneration, which can alter the way an individual sees color and can effect only one eye. However, Macular Degeneration is typically a gradual condition. So, the sudden onset of the condition would be unusual. Check out the website below for an article about Macular Degeneration and see if the symptoms match up.

Answer 2

If it has only affected one eye, then it is much less likely to be of intracranial origin (though it's not impossible)
If there is no sign on the retina, where a small haemorrhage or blocked artery near the macula might produce this effect*, the main area of suspicion would be the optic nerve in the region between the eye and the optic chiasma.
Further back than the optic chiasma any problem normally affects *both* eyes.

The seriousness of the problem depends on its cause, and the damage to the affected eye.
An eye can often recover almost totally from even alarge haemorrage over the course of a few months.
A macula that has had loss of blood supply for any significant period will usually show permanent danmage, of varying degree.
The threat to general health or even life will depend on why the blockage or haemorrhage occured, or why the optic nerve has taken damage.
Aortic vascular disease would be one possibility, or a space- filling lesion behind the affected eye: a haemorrhage, mucocele or tumour....
There are, I'm afraid, lots of possibilities, some more serious than others.

*With or without Age-Related Maculopathy, ARM, or its variant terms AMD: Age-related Macular Disease, or SMD
Senile Macular Degeneration (which we're not supposed to use any more, because the public mis-understand the word "senile").

Answer 3

could be a stroke but a stroke usually affects half the vision either peripheral or nasally. Could be dry AMD or maybe wet AMD if the changes are getting worse than better. Id venture to guess its something to do with the optic nerve swelling and should definitely be checked out by an Ophthalmologist and have photo's and a scan of the optic nerve to rule out swelling etc.