Light-gazing by visually impaired children.

This study assessed the prevalence and characteristics of light-gazing by all visually impaired children referred during a 2 1/2-year period. Light-gazing (compulsive staring into lights) is one of the many clinical signs of cortical visual impairment (CVI), and in the present study it occurred in 60 per cent of children with CVI. The authors believe that light-gazing by any child with ocular lesions indicates some degree of CNS involvement. Visually impaired children who flicker their fingers in front of their eyes against a light source demonstrate an extension of this compulsive behaviour. This and other studies suggest that blind mannerisms have specific neuropathological substrata and therefore are useful clinical signs.