Hysterical amblyopia: electrodiagnostic and clinical evaluation

Six hysterical amblyopes and six controls, matched for age and sex, were evaluated as to acuity, color vision, visual fields, dark adaptometry and visual evoked responses (VER). Although the hysterical amblyopes all showed reduced acuity and constricted visual fields, no statistically significant differences were found for the dark adaptation final thresholds when compared to the control group. VERs to stimuli which were varied with respect to brightness, color, frequency and pattern, did not statistically differentiate hysterical amblyopes from the control group. The results appear to indicate the intactness of the visual pathways up to and including cortical area 17 in hysterical amblyopia.