The problem of macular sparing after unilateral occipital lesions

Whether or not unilateral occipital damage produces sparing of central vision, namely macular sparing, is controversial. We tested two subjects with left occipital lesions by means of fundus perimetry combined with fundus image analysis. This method made it possible to measure the distance of the stimulus projected on the retina from the foveal centre defined as the centre of the foveal reflex. The results indicated that macular sparing, if it exists, must be less than 0.4 degree wide. Two of the four eyes during the stimulus presentation often but not always showed eccentric fixation of a small magnitude, whose mean was less than 0.6 degree from the foveal centre in the right hemiretina.