Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Optic Nerve Disorders
The optic nerve is a bundle of more than 1 million nerve fibers that carry visual messages. You have one connecting the back of each eye (your retina) to your brain. Damage to an optic nerve can cause vision loss. The type of vision loss and how severe it is depends on where the damage occurs. It may affect one or both eyes.
There are many different types of optic nerve disorders, including:
- Glaucoma is a group of diseases that are the leading cause of blindness in the United States. Glaucoma usually happens when the fluid pressure inside the eyes slowly rises and damages the optic nerve.
- Optic neuritis is an inflammation of the optic nerve. Causes include infections and immune-related illnesses such as multiple sclerosis. Sometimes the cause is unknown.
- Optic nerve atrophy is damage to the optic nerve. Causes include poor blood flow to the eye, disease, trauma, or exposure to toxic substances.
- Optic nerve head drusen are pockets of protein and calcium salts that build up in the optic nerve over time
Contact your health care provider if you are having vision problems. Tests for optic nerve disorders may include eye exams, ophthalmoscopy (an examination of the back of your eye), and imaging tests. Treatment depends on which disorder that you have. With some optic nerve disorders, you may get your vision back. With others, there is no treatment, or treatment may only prevent further vision loss.
It sits within Eyes and Vision.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Eye Institute.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Optic Nerve Disorders
1,798 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- The Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Clinical Trial PlatformAdam Boxer
- ARTFL LEFFTDS Longitudinal Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ALLFTD)Mayo Clinic
- The Effectiveness Of Home-Based Circuit Training On Eye Pressure And Eye Nerve Structures In Patients With GlaucomaUniversiti Sains Malaysia
- Natural History Study of Patients With Neurofibromatosis Type INational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Vorinostat in Treating Patients With Metastatic Melanoma of the EyeNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Biomarkers in Autoimmune Disease of Nervous SystemTongji Hospital
Research already completed
- Efficacy and Safety of Pembrolizumab in Combination With Lenvatinib in Metastatic Uveal MElanoma Patients (PLUME)Institut Curie
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Overview of Optic Nerve DisordersMerck & Co., Inc.
Diagnosis and Tests
- Get a Dilated Eye ExamNational Eye Institute
- Optic Nerve ImagingGlaucoma Research Foundation
Related Issues
- How the Build Up of Aqueous Humor Can Damage the Optic NerveBrightFocus Foundation
Genetics
- Autosomal dominant optic atrophy and cataract: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Costeff syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Deafness-dystonia-optic neuronopathy syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Early-onset glaucoma: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Leber hereditary optic neuropathy: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Neuromyelitis optica: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Optic atrophy type 1: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Renal coloboma syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Septo-optic dysplasia: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
Statistics and Research
- Eye Health Data and StatisticsNational Eye Institute
- Optic Nerve RegenerationBrightFocus Foundation
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Optic Nerve DiseasesNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Optic Nerve InjuriesNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Optic Nerve Diseases, Optic Nerve Injuries. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Optic Nerve Disorders, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.