Optic Nerve

The optic nerve consists of the final bundle of one million nerve fibers that transmit the digitized retinal signal to the brain where they are finally converted into our visual images of the outside world.

What can go wrong?

Your optic nerve carries the visual signal from the retina to the brain through millions of nerve cells originating in the retina. If this signal is interrupted, your vision is diminished. The optic nerve itself can become inflamed due to systemic disease leading to optic neuritis, with a temporary loss of vision, or optic nerve atrophy, leading to significant and permanent vision loss. Glaucoma, effecting over 2% of the general population, is a gradual loss of optic nerve fibers and the visual areas of the retina that they serve, due to elevated intraocular pressure and a poor vascular supply to the optic nerve head.