View source for Scotoma

{{short description|Altered region in an otherwise normal field of vision}}
{{Infobox medical condition (new)
| name            = Scotoma
| synonyms        = Scotomas, scotomata
| image           = Scintillating scotoma.gif
| caption         = Animation of a [[scintillating scotoma]] that is almost spiral-shaped, with distortion of shapes but otherwise melting into the background similarly to the [[blind spot (vision)|physiological blind spot]], as may be caused by [[cortical spreading depression]]
| image_size       =350px
| field           = [[Ophthalmology]]
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A '''scotoma''' is an area of partial alteration in the [[field of vision]] consisting of a partially diminished or entirely [[macular degeneration|degenerated]] [[visual acuity]] that is surrounded by a field of normal – or relatively well-preserved – [[Visual perception|vision]].

Every normal [[mammal]]ian eye has a scotoma in its field of vision, usually termed its [[blind spot (vision)|blind spot]].  This is a location with no [[photoreceptor cell]]s, where the [[retinal ganglion cell]] [[axons]] that compose the [[optic nerve]] exit the retina. This location is called the [[optic disc]]. There is no direct conscious awareness of visual scotomas. They are simply regions of reduced information within the visual field. Rather than recognizing an incomplete image, patients with scotomas report that things "disappear" on them.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fletcher|first1=Donald C.|last2=Schuchard|first2=Ronald A.|last3=Renninger|first3=Laura W.|date=September 2012|title=Patient awareness of binocular central scotoma in age-related macular degeneration|journal=Optometry and Vision Science|volume=89|issue=9|pages=1395–1398|doi=10.1097/OPX.0b013e318264cc77|issn=1538-9235|pmid=22863789|s2cid=34805670}}</ref>

The presence of the blind spot scotoma can be demonstrated subjectively by covering one eye, carefully holding [[Fixation (visual)|fixation]] with the open eye, and placing an object (such as one's thumb) in the [[Human anatomical terms#Anatomical directions|lateral]] and [[Horizontal plane|horizontal]] visual field, about 15 degrees from fixation. The size of the [[monocular]] scotoma is 5×7 degrees of [[visual angle]].

A scotoma can be a symptom of damage to any part of the visual system, such as retinal damage from exposure to high-powered lasers, [[macular degeneration]], and brain damage.

The term ''scotoma'' is also used [[metaphor]]ically in several fields. The common theme of all the figurative [[word sense|senses]] is of a gap not in visual function but in the mind's [[perception]], [[cognition]], or [[world view]]. The term is {{ety|el|''σκότος'' (skótos)|darkness}}.

==Signs and symptoms==
Symptom-producing, or [[pathology|pathological]], scotomata may be due to a wide range of disease processes, affecting any part of the visual system, including the [[retina]] (in particular its most sensitive portion, the [[macula]]), the [[optic nerve]] and even the visual cortex.<ref>"Bilateral effects of unilateral visual cortex lesions in human", Matthew Rizzo and Donald A. Robin, ''Brain'' (1996), 119, pages 951-96.</ref> A pathological scotoma may involve any part of the [[visual field]] and may be of any shape or size. A scotoma may include and enlarge the normal blind spot. Even a small scotoma that happens to affect central or [[macula]]r vision will produce a severe visual [[disability]], whereas a large scotoma in the more [[Peripheral vision|peripheral]] part of a visual field may go unnoticed by the bearer because of the normal reduced [[optical resolution]] in the peripheral visual field.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==Causes==
Common causes of scotomas include [[demyelinating]] disease such as [[multiple sclerosis]]  ([[retrobulbar neuritis]]), damage to nerve fiber layer in the retina (seen as [[cotton wool spots]]<ref>"The role of axoplasmic transport in the pathogenesis of retinal cotton-wool spots", D. McLeod, J. Marshall, E. M. Kohner, and A. C. Bird, ''Br J Ophthalmol'' (1977), 61(3), pages 177–191.</ref>) due to hypertension, toxic substances such as [[methyl alcohol]], [[ethambutol]] and [[quinine]], [[nutritional deficiencies]], [[blood vessel|vascular]] blockages either in the retina or in the optic nerve, [[stroke]] or other brain injury, and [[macular degeneration]], often associated with aging. [[Scintillating scotoma]] is a common visual [[Aura (symptom)|aura]] in [[migraine]].<ref>"Possible Roles of Vertebrate Neuroglia in Potassium Dynamics, Spreading depression, and migraine", Gardner-Medwin, ''J. Exp. Biol.'' (1981), 95, pages 111-127 (Figure 4).</ref> Less common, but important because they are sometimes reversible or curable by [[surgery]], are scotomata due to [[tumor]]s such as those arising from the [[pituitary gland]], which may compress the optic nerve or interfere with its blood supply.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

Rarely, scotomata are [[wikt:bilateral|bilateral]]. One important variety of bilateral scotoma may occur when a pituitary [[tumour]] begins to compress the [[optic chiasm]] (as distinct from a single optic nerve) and produces a bitemporal paracentral scotoma, and later, when the tumor enlarges, the scotomas extend out to the periphery to cause the characteristic [[bitemporal hemianopsia]]. This type of visual-field defect tends to be obvious to the person experiencing it but often evades early objective [[medical diagnosis|diagnosis]], as it is more difficult to detect by cursory clinical examination than the classical or textbook bitemporal peripheral hemianopia and may even elude sophisticated electronic modes of visual-field assessment.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

In a pregnant woman, scotomata can present as a symptom of severe [[pre-eclampsia]], a form of pregnancy-induced [[hypertension]]. Similarly, scotomata may develop as a result of the increased [[intracranial pressure]] that occurs in [[malignant hypertension]].{{cn|date=October 2025}}

[[Aminoglycoside]] antibiotics, particularly [[streptomycin]], may also cause a scotoma.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==Terminology==
Beyond its literal [[word sense|sense]] concerning the visual system, the term ''scotoma'' is also used [[metaphor]]ically in several fields, including [[neurology]], [[neuropsychology]], [[psychology]], [[philosophy]], and [[politics]]. The common theme of all the figurative [[word sense|senses]] is of a gap not in visual function but in the mind's [[perception]], [[cognition]], or [[world view]]. Their concrete connection to the literal sense, however, is by the connection between the [[nervous system]] and the mind, via the chain of links from [[sensory system|sensory]] input, to nerve conduction, to the brain, to [[perception]] (the processing and interpreting of that input) via the brain-mind correlation, to psychological function. Thus there is not only (or not necessarily) a visual inability to see an aspect of reality but also (or instead) a mental inability to conceive even the possibility of seeing that aspect, due to a cognitive [[wikt:schema#Noun|schema]] that lacks any provision for it.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

{{Anchor|neuropsychological scotoma}}At the most [[wikt:concrete#Adjective|concrete]] level, there is ''neuropsychological scotoma''. One example is the [[hemispatial neglect]] that is sometimes experienced by people who have had [[stroke]]s. Another type is the phenomenon of reverse or negative phantom limb, in which [[nerve]] injuries to the limbs, such as trauma in which a limb's nerves are severed but the limb is spared from [[amputation]], can affect the mind's [[body schema]] in such a way that an existing limb seems to its owner like it should not exist, and its presence thus seems [[uncanny]]. Neurologist [[Oliver Sacks]], who experienced a reverse phantom leg that later resolved,<ref name="Sacks_1984">{{Citation |last=Sacks |first=Oliver |year=1984 |title=A Leg to Stand On |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0671467807 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_vaAAAAMAAJ |postscript=.}}</ref> considered it a form of spatial neglect in the [[body schema]] analogous to hemispatial neglect in that the mind could not [[self-recognition|conceive of the leg as self]] because it could not conceive that there was any space for the leg to exist in. Sacks and others agreed that the leg thus seemed like someone else's leg, including sometimes a [[cadaver]]ous one, which was part of the reason for the [[dysphoria]] but not the sole explanation. Even for people who intellectually understood that the leg or hand was supposed to be theirs simply could not believe it [[emotion]]ally and could not completely reconcile reality with schema, prompting great unease. Given how hard this is to comprehend for a person who has not experienced it, people recently experiencing it for the first time consider it both [[uncanny]] and [[ineffability|ineffable]] (as Sacks self-reported and found in others<ref name="Sacks_1984"/>). Sacks also explored the regular type of [[phantom limb]] (a positive phantom), which does not produce a neuropsychological scotoma but shares with reverse phantoms the trait that the [[body schema]] resists revision despite a person's perfect intellectual awareness and acceptance of the current physical reality (that is, that the amputated limb is gone or that the spared limb is still present). This suggests that aspects of schema in the mind (body schema, world schema) have neurologic bases that cannot be revised by mere intellectual understanding—at least not quickly. Sacks does explore the topic of how people adapt to phantoms over the years and how positive phantom limbs often gradually foreshorten and sometimes disappear; but some remain for the rest of life.<ref name="Sacks_1984"/>

{{Anchor|Psychological scotoma}} {{Anchor|Intellectual scotoma}}At a higher level of abstraction are what have been called ''{{Visible anchor|psychological scotomas}}'', in which a person's self-perception of his or her own [[personality]] is judged by others to have a gap in perceptive ability. Thus, in [[psychology]], ''scotoma'' can refer to a person's inability to perceive [[personality trait]]s in themselves that are obvious to others. And at the highest abstraction level are what have been called ''intellectual scotomas'', in which a person cannot perceive distortions in their [[world view]] that are obvious to others. Thus, in philosophy or politics, a person's thoughts or beliefs might be shaped by an inability to appreciate aspects of social interaction or [[institution]]al structure.

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Floater]]
* [[Scotomization]]
}}

===Detection===
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Amsler grid]]
* [[Horizontal eccentricity]]
* [[Visual field test]]
}}

===Types===
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Binasal hemianopsia]]
* [[Bitemporal hemianopsia]]
* [[Cortical spreading depression]]
* [[Scintillating scotoma]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Medical resources
|  DiseasesDB      = 
|  ICD10           = {{ICD10|H|53|4|h|53}}, {{ICD10|H|53|1|h|53}} 
|  ICD9            = {{ICD9|368.41}}, {{ICD9|368.42}}, {{ICD9|368.12}} 
|  ICDO            = 
|  OMIM            = 
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|  eMedicineSubj   = 
|  eMedicineTopic  = 
|  MeshID          = D012607
}}

{{Eye pathology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Visual disturbances and blindness]]