A typical case of miraculous relief from blindness

Abstract

This article describes a case of hysterical amblyopia in a 10.5-year-old girl. She complained of decreased vision for 4 months. The decrease in vision was a result of infectious mononucleosis and conjunctivitis. During the initial examination, typical signs of hysterical amblyopia were observed: a bilateral decrease in visual acuity, loss of field to tubular, and a corresponding impaired orientation in the surrounding space. Reversible changes in visual evoked potentials (VEP) were noted, indicating functional changes in the visual system, impaired color perception. A complete ophthalmological examination was performed, including standard methods and electrophysiological studies. Upon repeated examination after 1 day, complete relief of signs of hysterical amblyopia was noted, namely, an increase in visual acuity to 1.2, expansion of the boundaries of the visual field to normal values, normal binocular and accommodation functions, and normal trichromasia. This case was unique because of the complete restoration of visual functions that occurred spontaneously within 1 day. For the first time, reversible changes in visual evoked potential that were not previously described in the literature were revealed, and an undifferentiated violation of color perception was described.

Keywords

hysterical amblyopia / hysterical visual loss / nonorganic visual loss / functional visual loss

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