The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the Macular Disease Society are calling for all eye care professionals to warn patients with macular degeneration they are at risk of developing visual hallucinations. If left uninformed about this possible side effect patients could be wrongly diagnosed with dementia or other conditions.

At least 10% of people with age related macular degeneration (AMD) experience Charles Bonnet Syndrome – a condition which is caused by a lack of visual stimulation and results in visual hallucinations – Dr Dominic Ffytche, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry has claimed.

Together the charities have launched a campaign urging practitioners to inform all patients who are diagnosed with conditions that can result in serve vision loss about the possibility of developing visual hallucinations.

Winfried Amoaku, chairman of the scientific committee at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said: “A significant number of medical professionals and the general public have inadequate knowledge about visual hallucinations caused by eye problems such as macular degeneration.”

Research in eye hospitals has shown that up to 60% of patients with severe vision loss develop Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

Aiming to raise awareness of the little-known condition, the Royal College hopes that ophthalmologists will begin to use their own judgement and knowledge of a patient to decide how best explain the possibility of developing visual hallucinations.

“We want to ensure that patients are aware of the link between visual hallucinations and their sight loss,” Mr Amoaku added. “In our experience forewarning and knowledge of the possibility of hallucinations helps patients cope when they occur and allows them to realise that this indicates only that there is a functional problem with their sight, and not a problem with their mind.”

Following interviews with nearly 60 patients with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, the Macular Degeneration Society found that only one had been informed by their doctor or optician about the possibility of developing hallucinations before they begun. All patients said that they would have been ‘relieved’ to know what was causing the visual hallucinations.

Discussing the campaign Tom Bremridge, chief executive of the Macular Disease Society, explained: “It [the campaign] was inspired by one of our members, a patient in Scotland, who was misdiagnosed after she went to A&E complaining of her visual hallucinations. This lady, who is in her 80s, was referred to a psychiatrist by the A&E doctor and spent many months wrongly assuming she was suffering dementia.”

“Clearly we are aiming to educate health professionals as well as the public that having visual hallucinations without warning can compound the stress of sight loss especially if people are scared to mention it to friends and family for fear of being thought to be imagining things,” he added.

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