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Mental Health Ocular System

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS)

Visual release hallucinations, also known as Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS), refers to symptoms of visual hallucinations that occur due to vision loss from any underlying cause. The underlying condition may affect the eye, optic nerve, or the brain. Examples of underlying causes include macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, optic neuritis, surgery, and stroke. | Visual Release Hallucinations (Charles Bonnet syndrome): Jorge Muniz, PA-C

Visual release hallucinations, also known as Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is a type of visual disturbance and the experience of complex visual hallucinations in a person with partial or severe blindness in the absence of psychiatric .

History

charlesbonnet
The disease is named after the Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet, who described the condition in 1760. He first documented it in his 89-year-old grandfather who was nearly blind from cataracts in both eyes but perceived men, women, birds, carriages, buildings, tapestries, physically impossible circumstances and scaffolding patterns.

Aetiology

Visual impairments:

  • Macular degeneration (central vision loss)
  • Glaucoma (peripheral vision loss)
  • Methyl alcohol poisoning
    • Bilateral optic nerve damage 

Clinical features

  • Fictive visual percepts
    • Vivid, complex recurrent visual hallucinations
  • “Lilliputian” hallucinations
    • Hallucinations in which the characters or objects are smaller than normal
  • Pseudohallucination
    • Involuntary sensory experience vivid enough to be regarded as a hallucination, but recognised by the patient not to be the result of external stimuli i.e. patient understands that the hallucinations are not real
  • Hallucinations are only visual
    • Faces or cartoons (M/C) > Animals, plants or trees and inanimate objects

Case study

Management

There is no treatment of proven effectiveness for CBS.

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