Functional visual effects of lesions located near the optic nerve head.

Three patients with retinal lesions near or impinging on the optic nerve head are presented. Three different functional disruptions are demonstrated by quantitative layer-by-layer perimetry. In one, a patient who primarily exhibited subretinal neovascularization, inner retinal functions were anomalous; but the overlying nerve fiber bundle was as yet not affected. In the second patient, an individual with possible histoplasmosis causing an outer retinal/choroidal lesion, the overlying nerve fiber bundle was affected causing apparent retrograde changes in inner retinal function at remote visual field locations; but another aspect of optic nerve function (time-dependent response) was not anomalous. These apparently retrograde changes were essentially identical to functional changes previously demonstrated in patients with established open-angle glaucoma. In the third patient, with presumed toxoplasmosis, there were clear-out time-dependent anomalous responses consistent with optic nerve involvement, as previously reported in patients with optic neuritis. There were also modest, time-stable, nerve fiber bundle defects present in this third patient. Together, these results demonstrate that lesions in the area of the disc can have very different functional consequences, and that quantitative psychophysical techniques can elucidate these differences.