There Is No Treatment Yet Found To Cure Ocular Flutter

Ocular flutter is a rare eye condition in which there is involuntary fast and small movement of eye in horizontal direction without any saccadic interval. A saccade is rapid eye movement that occurs when the eye fixes from one point to another in the visual field. In ocular flutter the eye after one main saccade makes another saccade involuntarily and rapidly in another opposite direction.

The movement in case of ocular flutter is horizontal. This condition is mainly caused by disease related with brain such as encephalitis etc. Patient sufferign from ocular flutter often complains of oscillopsia (the vision filed appear to oscillate. Ocular flutter cannot be treated. However, it can give indication of some disease in brain. Ocular flutter also occurs in certain malignancies.

Ocular Flutter Causes:

The pathophysiology of ocular flutter is not yet very well understood by researchers. It is a rare eye disorder. But on the other hand there are many people who can produce ocular flutter voluntarily during the convergence. This can be identified because the pupil gets constricted during the convergence.

If ocular flutter is voluntary then it is also referred as voluntary nystagmus. Besides this ocular flutter can also occur in certain diseases but it is rare. Ocular flutter can be present in paraneoplastic syndrome, brainstem encephalitis, metabolic disorders and it can be idiopathic where the cause is not known. In children this is associated with neoroblastoma. In adults it can occur in breast cancer and small cell lung cancer.

Is There any Treatment for Ocular Flutter:

There is no treatment yet found to cure ocular flutter. It is caused by some disease related in the brain. The dysfunction really occurs in the pontine cells of brain. The normal function of these cells is to prevent involuntary eye movement. Treatment is mainly aimed at the underlying cause. For example treatment of underlying cancer such as small cell lung cancer or breast cancer can reduce manifestation of ocular flutter. Corticosteroid, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and immune modulator can improve viral encephalitis and panneoplastic syndrome.