Diagnosaurus
Acute visual loss
DDx
Inflamed eye (red)
- Acute glaucoma
- Uveitis
- Keratitis (corneal ulcer or inflammation), e.g., herpes simplex
- Conjunctivitis (blurry)
- Retinal detachment
- Central retinal vein occlusion
- Central retinal artery occlusion
- Vitreous hemorrhage
- Macular degeneration (exudative)
- Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, e.g., temporal (giant cell) arteritis
- Optic neuritis, e.g., multiple sclerosis
- Papilledema
- Hyperglycemia (blurry; subacute)
- Polycythemia vera (blurry; subacute)
- Trauma
- Conversion disorder
- Episodic: amaurosis fugax (TIA), ophthalmic migraine
- Diplopia
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Last updated: December 1, 2014
Citation
Zeiger, Roni F.. "Acute Visual Loss." Diagnosaurus, 4th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Emergency Central, emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114384/all/Acute_visual_loss.
Zeiger RFR. Acute visual loss. Diagnosaurus. McGraw-Hill Education; 2014. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114384/all/Acute_visual_loss. Accessed November 4, 2025.
Zeiger, R. F. (2014). Acute visual loss. In Diagnosaurus (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114384/all/Acute_visual_loss
Zeiger RFR. Acute Visual Loss [Internet]. In: Diagnosaurus. McGraw-Hill Education; 2014. [cited 2025 November 04]. Available from: https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114384/all/Acute_visual_loss.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - ELEC
T1 - Acute visual loss
ID - 114384
A1 - Zeiger,Roni F,
Y1 - 2014/12/01/
BT - Diagnosaurus
UR - https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/Diagnosaurus/114384/all/Acute_visual_loss
PB - McGraw-Hill Education
ET - 4
DB - Emergency Central
DP - Unbound Medicine
ER -
