RETROBULBAR NEURITIS IN DIABETES

Abstract

Apart from the commonly recognized ocular manifestations of diabetes, such as refractive changes, premature presbyopia, cataract and objective fundus changes, there are amblyopias affecting the peripheral and particularly the central visual fields. It is our purpose in this paper to discuss the latter, and to record the clinical history of another case in point. Retrobulbar neuritis arising in the course of diabetes, the evident result of an endogenous toxin or toxins liberated during the disease, which exercises a selective action on the papillomacular bundle of the optic nerve, is undoubtedly a clinical entity. Leber 1 has reported fourteen cases among fifty diabetic patients. Foster Moore 2 saw six cases in sixty-one diabetic patients. Wendell Reber 3 reported a case with scotoma for red, which was persistent six years after the attack. Ronne 4 reported two cases studied clinically and at necropsy to which reference will be made later. One of