J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1998;65:808 ( December )
Editorial commentary
Oscillopsia: impaired vision during motion in the absence of the
vestibulo-ocular reflex
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The vestibuloocular reflex evolved to guarantee clear vision of
the environment during perturbations of the head, especially those
occurring during locomotion.1 This point was elegantly made by the anonymous physician, JC, who had lost his "balancing mechanism" as a consequence of toxic doses of
streptomycin2:
"During a walk I found too much motion in my visual picture of the
surroundings to permit recognition of fine detail. I learned that I
must stand still in order to read the lettering on a sign."
However, with time, such symptoms partially abate. Thus, JC reported
that he was able to return to tennis doubles after about 4 years. The
nature and extent of the visual symptoms that persist after loss of the
VOR are the subject of the paper by Morland et al (this
issue, pp 828-835).
Clear vision of objects in the environment requires that their images
be held fairly steadily, close . . . [Full text of this article]
