Abstract
Presentation Description :
Fixational eye movements both prevent desensitization of the retina and prevent movement of the target from the fovea. In this mini-symposium, we will explore the consequences of these eye movements in the normal ocular motor system and in various diseases. Amblyopia is an afferent disease where congenital visual obscuration causes maldevelopment of visual processing such that future correction of the obscuration fails to restore vision; however, the interaction between amblyopia and fixation stability is not well-described. Traumatic brain injury most often occurs in a fully-developed and intact ocular motor system, e.g., in young adults, but many of the visual problems that these patients suffer could be attributed to fixation instability. Neurodegenerative diseases such as cerebellar ataxia syndromes at times result in loss of fixation stability through degradation of efferent pathways and offer a window to disease mechanisms. Maculopathies, which result in a deranged fovea, offer a window to compensatory mechanisms.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.