Reflex blindness

Reflex blindness (lat. caecitas reflectoria) is a rare eye disease in which temporary loss of vision occurs in one eye after injury or disease in the other eye.

The cause of the disease is not fully understood. Presumably, this is due to conduction disturbances in the optic nerves or their nuclei. When one eye is damaged, the resulting impulses suppress nerve signals from the healthy eye to the brain.

Symptoms include sudden blindness in the previously healthy eye following injury or disease in the other eye. Vision may return on its own after several weeks or months.

Diagnosis is based on analysis of symptoms and ophthalmoscopy data.

Treatment is usually not required, as vision recovers on its own. In rare cases, surgical treatment of the affected eye is used to stimulate the restoration of vision in the healthy eye.

The prognosis is favorable; in most patients, vision is completely restored.