At 87, she may have feared a slide into dementia, but Maureen has age-associated macular degeneration (AMD), the most common result in of vision loss in those in excess of 50. One particular symptom of AMD is identified as Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). It’s named right after a Swiss naturalist and writer who, in 1769, observed that his near-blind grandfather was seeing visions of people, birds, carriages, buildings, tapestries and patterns.
The visions might occur when the visual cortex will get ”bored’’ from lack of stimulus and compensates by making its personal images. CBS can have an effect on anyone who is dropping their vision, whether or not from AMD, cataracts, glaucoma or stroke. “Even some paranormal phenomena such as ghost sightings could be down to Charles Bonnet Syndrome,” in accordance to consultant opthalmic surgeon Manoj Kulshrestha, of Hywel Dda Wellness Board, in Wales.
Individuals are often reluctant to confess to seeing visions, according to Mr Kulshrestha. “They be concerned that if they admit to hallucinations, people might feel they have a mental sickness,” he says. “One patient informed me her neighbours imagined her ‘completely crackers’ because she noticed visions of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. When you assure them that there is an organic result in, individuals are hugely relieved.”
The good news is, Maureen was much better informed than most: “I’d been informed about these factors, but to suddenly see this funny tiny miniature girl coming up beneath this small table was bizarre. She had a smiling round face hunting up at me, and as I was watching it grew, like a genie coming out of a bottle. I couldn’t see the feet, just a head and shoulders.
“Her encounter was tanned and shiny, like a person who had been doing work out in the fields and was covered in perspiration. It is imagined that the faces you see are typically from way back in your previous. I think this was my Cornish grandmother.”
There are two forms of AMD – ”dry’’ and ”wet’’. Dry AMD is a gradual deterioration of the macula. In about ten to 15 per cent of circumstances, this develops into moist AMD, in which abnormal blood vessels injury the macula, foremost to fast reduction of central vision. There is no cure, but injecting a medicine known as Lucentis into the eye can slow or temporarily reverse the results.
Mr Kulshrestha says early diagnosis is important: “Patients who delay need to have a lot more injections. You can’t ensure enhancements in vision, but the quicker they commence, the much better the prognosis.”
For far more information on AMD or Charles Bonnet Syndrome, go to macularsociety.org
The eye individuals who see visions
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