The characteristics of static visual fields in children with psychogenic visual disturbances

Purpose: It is well-known that patients with psychogenic visual disturbance s (PVD) exhibit characteristic kinetic visual fields. Even when the kinetic fields are normalized, the static fields of PVD children frequently remain abnormal. To verify this finding, we performed static perimetry on those c hildren whose kinetic fields were initially normal or which normalized duri ng the follow-up period, and compared the results with those of children wi th psychosomatic disorders (PSD) and normal children. Methods: We examined 9 PVD children (17 eyes), 16 PSD children (32 eyes), a nd 16 normal children (16 eyes). Program 30-2 or 24-2 of the Humphrey Field Analyzer was used in the examinations on all subjects. Results: The average mean deviation (MD) of the PVD group was significantly lower than that of the other groups (P < .01). False negative errors and s hort-term fluctuations were significantly higher in the PVD group than in t he other groups (P < .05). Conclusion: Although PVD and PSD children possess a similar underlying psyc hological dysfunction, their performances in visual field testing proved to be quite different. In the PVD group, even when kinetic fields were normal , functional visual field loss in the static fields was common and had char acteristic response properties. (C) 2000 Japanese Ophthalmological Society.