My Old Diagnosis: Optic Atrophy: 04/22/09

Many of you may be wondering what exactly my eye problem is. Today I'm going to address this topic. Most doctors have labeled my eye problem as trauma at birth. Optic Atrophy is usually accompanied by color vision loss. Optic Atrophy commonly develops during early childhood. Since the optic nerve runs to the brain, there is currently no cure for this eye problem. On the other hand, since it's not a physical eye disease my vision should not deteriorate further. For years my eye doctors have shrugged shoulders and said anything from he's undiagnosed to he's got Optic Atrophy due to trauma at birth. I was 2.5 months premature when born. My lungs were underdeveloped so it's possible there could have been a lack of oxygen to my brain that may have caused this condition. The doctors actually told my mother I'd never live. hahaha They're SO smart aren't they?

Not only am I classified as legally blind, I'm also partially color blind. Now lets get this straight, I DO NOT see in black and white! Oh sorry, touchy subject. Yes, I detest that question as much as the "how many fingers am I holding up question", even though I fully understand why someone would ask. Bright colors are more easily discernible in bright lighting conditions. When colors get close to the same value is where my problems lie. At that point, confusion sets in. When I open my eyes very wide and more light gets in the bright colors jump out at me. But this is useless because I can't walk around with toothpicks prying my eyes wide open daily.

With these things in mind, my new specialist, Dr. De Carlo, took great care in providing me with any diagnosis. She didn't rush to any decision, nor did she buy into what other doctors had told me. After looking closely with some really bright lights around my eye, she had an idea. She said she has a hunch that I have a different eye problem, but we will not know for sure unless I agree to undergo additional testing. I told her to sign me up. I agreed to have a Electroretinogram done. I won't bore you with the medical definition unless you want to click the different links.

On April 22 2009 at 8:30 am I went to the Eye Foundation for my Electroretinogram. I had forgot my insurance card that day, but God takes care of fools and blind people. lol Anyways, this nice lady with a (I'm guessing here) German accent tested me. The electrodes were placed on me, I was dilated, the lights turned out and the fun began. Well that doesn't sound right in print. After dilation was complete, (Dr De Carlo says I'm a fast dilator) my testing began. I stuck my head in this thing pictured above that looked to me like a space helmet with a red light in the middle. We did a spot test where I looked and a tiny light flashed soft to bright. The ERG machine measured the electrical activity of my retina in response to light stimulation. It's actually a pain free test of my rods and cones. I tested with the lights off and on. After testing I walked out with those fashionable dilation shades to meet with the ERG doctor who would examine the results. This guy looked at my eyes extensively with more bright lights. Are we having fun yet? After all that, I noticed him flipping though my test results. When I asked, he stated he thinks he knows what I've got, but doesn't want to say until he examines my results more extensively. No shocker, I know how these people work. Now the waiting game beings again until Dr De Carlo gets my Electroretinogram results back from the ERG specialist.

The Ganzfeld Electroretinogram machine I was tested on looked exactly like the one pictured at the top of my blog. They had it connected to a laptop and my eyes to the electrodes. It was painless and a extremely simple test.