Abstract

A 44-year-old obese woman presented with decrease in vision in the right eye (RE) for 3 days. She reported a simultaneous onset of holocranial headache that worsened on bending forward. She denied eye pain, pain on eye movements, and other ocular or neurological complaints. On examination, her distance best-corrected visual acuity was counting fingers at 1 m in the RE and 20/20 in the left eye (LE). Colour vision was subnormal in both eyes (BE). There was grade II relative afferent pupillary defect in the RE. Fundus examination showed disc oedema in BE . Visual fields in the LE showed central scotoma extending nasally. A provisional diagnosis of papillitis was considered. However, contrast-enhanced MRI of the brain and orbits showed evidence of elevated intracranial pressure. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) opening pressure was 42 cm H₂O while rest of the CSF analysis was normal. Diagnosis was revised to fulminant idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Management with medical therapy and urgent thecoperiteoneal shunt improved visual function in BE.