A Statistical Study of Psychogenic Visual Disturbances for Childlen in Tottori University Hospital

We retrospectively studied clinical manifestations and psychogenic factors of 43 children diagnosed as psychogenic visual disturbance at Tottori University Hospital. The patients' ages ranged from 6 to 16 years (an average of 9.6 years). The number of female patients is 5 times larger than male patients. In 43 cases, 53% cases of loss of vision were found in the routine examination of schools, which were 2 times more than self noticed case. The visual acuity of 69% cases were 20/200•`20/40 at the initial visit. Seventy-two% of cases were easily improved by negative lens method with fogging method under test of serf noticed refraction before cycloplegia. Thirty-four% of cases were found hyperopia more than +1.0 diopters after cycloplegia. Instability of accommodation might be related with visual impairment according to our study. Abnormal visual fields were found in 70% of cases and 93% of cases were bilateral spiral visual field. Visual acuity over 20/25 by negative lens method with fogging method is usually found in the cases with normal visual field, while visual acuity under 20/40 by these methods is frequently found in the cases under 10•‹ spiral visual field. And, a statistic correlation was found between visual field and visual acuity. More than 70% of the cases were related with school and family problems, and some cases are due to the desire for wearing of glasses. Facing children as an irreplaceable individual leads to not only the treatment of psychogenic visual disturbance, but also the good relationships between parents and children.