[Image of the traumatic optic atrophy detected with optical coherence tomography and the vision function defection]

To analyze the unilateral image of the traumatic optic nerve atrophy using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to explore the relationship between the optic nerve atrophy and visual acuity or visual field.

Fifteen cases with traumatic optic nerve atrophy were studied. All cases were tested by routine opthalmological examination, visual evoked potentials (VEP) and optic disc examination with OCT. In cases with visual acuity more than 0.1 the visual field was tested.

All cases had visual acuity and visual field defect at various levels and optic disc retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) atrophy.

The traumatic optic atrophy begins in the temporal area of optic disc. The nasal area's atrophy occurs at the last and is the mildest. The more serious is the optic nerve atrophy, the worse is the vision function impairment. OCT is a valuable technique for evaluating the optic nerve atrophy and has good correlation with the visual function.