A medical condition which happens if a person suddenly loses partial or complete sight, causing him to experience vivid hallucinations which is known as Charles Bonnet Syndrome or CBS. This condition is only seen in people who are born with healthy normal vision but lose it later in their lifetime due to some issue. The people who are born with poor vision or other vision related problems are not affected by CBS.
CBS symptoms
Major symptom of CBS is visual hallucinations that generally occur when you wake up. The symptoms may stay for a few minutes to hours and can occur on a daily or weekly basis.
A person might see shapes, people, insects, buildings, repeating patterns, grids or lines, or even abstract concepts and images. One might see colored or black and white images that may or may not involve movement.
Due to the overlapping symptoms of the syndrome with other mental health illnesses, several people hesitate to report the conditions, but according to those who do report the data has been recorded according to which 10-40% of people who suffer from sudden vision loss or impairment also experience the symptoms of CBS at some point. Although, due to the poor awareness and misconception people are scared to visit the doctors.
It is common to see the same repeating patterns or even the same people and animals which further leads people into thinking the situation to be associated with mental illness. However, confirming with your eye doctors or visiting the center for ophthalmology in Dubai will be able to clear the confusion in your mind and make you understand the reality of things easily.
What is the underlying cause of CBS?
CBS or Charles Bonnet Syndrome can occur due to the complications incurred during the eye surgeries for visual impairments or vision loss. It can also be occurred due to several underlying conditions such as:
- Glaucoma
- Retinitis pigmentosa
- Cataract
- Severe myopia
- Retinal vein occlusion
- Occipital stroke
- Temporal arteritis
- Diabetic retinopathy
With several researches that have been done and hundreds of reports have been made, no one came to the conclusion of why actually CBS happens. Many researchers consider the condition similar to phantom limb pain which is when people experience pain in the limb that is not even there and has been removed. Similar to the people experiencing CBS, despite their inability to see they feel visual sensations.
Diagnose and treatment
The condition of CBS can be diagnosed with either a physical exam or even an MRI scan to rule out any cognitive or memory related issue. Unfortunately, Charles Bonnet syndrome is an incurable condition, but the effects can be managed with changing some daily habits.
Some of them are:
- Move around when feeling hallucinations
- Move your eyes or stare directly to the object you see while hallucinating
- Additional lighting can help
- Try stimulating other senses by listening to music
- Engage in social activities
In some cases, the medications used to treat epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease can help, but there can be major side effects of the same. A process that involves magnetic stimulation of different parts of the brain known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation which is often used to treat anxiety and depression may also provide relief to some extent.
How to learn to live with CBS?
The condition of Charles Bonnet Syndrome is more common than you might think. Visiting your eye clinic on a regular basis will essentially help you manage the condition with more patience by minimizing the symptoms as much as possible. A professional eye specialist will help you keep a log of how frequently you are experiencing the symptoms in order to understand them and prevent them from affecting your daily life.
For the majority of people symptoms usually become very less and even stop completely and so, do not hesitate to visit the best Dubai ophthalmology center for your regular consultation and check-up.
