Medical Questions » Brain Questions » Question No. 166
| Question: | At 44 I have suffered a stroke to my optic nerve and now have blind spots and flashinq iiqhts in my vision. Can the optic nerve repair itself? |
| Answer: | Strokes in the optic nerve are caused by a microscopic clot in a tiny artery blocking the blood supply to part (or ail) of the nerve, or a small blood vessel rupturing in the nerve and causing damage to it.
Recovery from any type of stroke occurs mostly in the first few weeks after the incident. Probably 95% of the recovery will have occurred by six months, but some further improvement can occur up to two years later.
With this type of stroke there is really nothing that doctors can do to correct the damage that has already been done, but anticoagulant medication may be prescribed to prevent any further blood clots developing.
The damaged nerve will recover if there has been only pressure damage and no death of nerve cells. Unfortunately time is the only treatment and you will just have to wait to see just how much long term disturbance you will have to your vision. |
|
|
