‘They will look but will not see’ – World Blind Day 2017



World Blind Day was marked on the 15th of October 2017.

To commemorate the day, I would like to focus on a variant of blindness called cortical blindness which is of much interest to Neurologists and afflicts many people worldwide. These are people ‘’who look but do not see’’. In Nigeria, we may come across such individuals in our daily lives.

Cortical blindness is complete or partial visual loss usually caused by a lesion in the occipital cortex affecting geniculo-calcarine fibres of the visual pathway. It commonly results from vascular events (stroke affecting the posterior cerebral artery territory) but may also be due to cardiac surgery, brain surgery, post- cerebral angiography, traumatic brain injury and seizures. Usually the structures of the eye are normal on examination in cortical blindness.

Patients with cortical blindness may surprisingly be unaware of this visual loss and deny such (Anton’s syndrome). Some present with hallucinations and will also have other neurological deficits present. Cortical blindness may coexist with other visual field defects such as hemianopias. A proportion of patients with cortical blindness may be able to see moving objects but not stationary ones.

Apart from the clinical work up, electroencephalograms (EEGs) tend to show loss of posterior occipital alpha activity in cases of cortical blindness while neuroimaging findings are quite characteristic.  Both of these investigative modalities are readily available for most Neurologists in major centres in Nigeria.

Prognosis is variable in cortical blindness. Full or partial recovery of sight can occur. Studies have shown that while prognosis is worst following a stroke, it tends to be better for those younger than 40 years, those without the cerebrovascular disease risk factors of hypertension or diabetes mellitus and in those without cognitive, communication or memory difficulties. 

So, how many people do you know that look but do not seem to be seeing? They may need to ‘see’ the Neurologist.

Celebrate your sight.



Neurologist, Professor, Researcher, Scientist, Mentor.

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