Eye care in the community: Part 1 – optic disc drusen

Over the coming year, optometrist Kirit Patel presents a monthly series looking at the presentation and management of a number of interesting patient presentations, including conditions as varied as visual field loss, myasthenia gravis and pituitary adenoma. Each will detail the patient episodes and offer useful background details about the condition being discussed.

Optic disc drusen

Optic disc drusen are often difficult to detect. Also, they can masquerade as a variety of other conditions including optic neuritis, papilloedema, and can impact upon nerves and vessels to induce effects that may suggest diseases such as primary open angle glaucoma and anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy. In this article I describe four patients of varying ages the range of effects from this congenital lesion.