Prado SA, Prieto OM, Robles BA

Language: Spanish
References: 7
Page: 222-226
PDF size: 449.57 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Formal visual hallucinations are usually a sign of acute psychopathology or gross cognitive impairment, but may also occur in people with visual deficits, the Charles Bonnet syndrome. It is common in patients experiencing vision loss and can occur at any age or sex.
The current paper reports the occurrence of complex visual hallucinations in a 89-year-old female with bilateral age-related macular degeneration and unilateral cataract. Her orientation and cognition were normal and she showed no evidence of psychiatric symptoms. Various conditions associated with visual hallucinations must be kept in mind by the ophthalmologist Formed visual hallucinations may be much more common than previously thought. Patients with visual impairment should be counseled and reassured about this phenomenon. Clinicians need to have a high index of suspicion for the Charles Bonnet syndrome, specially when presented with complaints of formed visual hallucinations from elderly patients with recent visual impairment, to avoid a psychiatric misdiagnosis.

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