Preface

Neuro-ophthalmology is the most intellectually effulgent of all of the clinical subspecialties of ophthalmology. Its range of erudition is rivalled only by ophthalmic pathology, which has the advantage of employing a retrospectoscope. If there is a taint of therapeutic nihilism to the practice of neuro-ophthalmology, no one with a serious affliction involving in the eye and the brain can afford not to be evaluated by a neuro-ophthalmologist. In our ophthalmic careers, neuro-ophthalmologists have been paragons of ethical standards and diagnostic acumen. This symposium on neuro-ophthalmology was prepared by the residents of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and their preceptors and presented to the staff and regional ophthalmologists on March 13, 1999. While somewhat idiosyncratic, the organization is predicated on neuro-ophthalmic dimensions encountered in the various subspecialties of ophthalmology. Thus we have two papers on corneal aspects of neuroophthalmology, one on uveitis and neurologic implications, four on optic nerve disorders, one on cortical visual impairment, two on systemic diseases with neurologic manifestations, and not surprisingly, four on retinal aspects of neurologic disorders. We hope that this chrestomathy will prove to be enjoyable reading and useful for clinical diagnostics.