Coat's disease is a rare eye disorder that can cause full or partial blindness. It is characterized by abnormal development of blood vessels behind the retina. The cause is unknown at this time, but has been described as a manifestation of facioscapulohumeral dystrophy,(form of muscular dystrophy).Patients usually presents with blurred vision in one eye and is more pronounced when the unaffected eye is covered. This can also cause depth perception, floaters, and flashes of light. Initially these can be mistaken for hallucinations, but are the result of retina detachment.
Treatment is laser surgery or cryotherapy (freezing) to destroy abnormal blood vessels, halting progression of the disease. These treaments are risky cause if the blood vessels are leaking and are clustered around the nerve it can cause permanent blindness. Although, cases have been documented where the disease has stop progressing on it's own and in somes cases had reversed itself.
The image is an angiogram that shows areas of capillary non-perfusion and dilation together with fusiform aneurysom formation.
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