Diagnosis and management of Charles Bonnet syndrome in a low-vision clinic: a case report

20 September 2017
Volume 18, Issue 3

The authors present a case report of an 89-year-old Caucasian female, with visual impairment, displaying symptoms of Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Introduction

There are numerous reports in the literature describing visual hallucinations seen by psychologically normal persons with a visual impairment. Charles Bonnet, a Swiss physician, in the 18th century described visual hallucinations seen by his psychologically normal grandfather who was visually impaired. Later, in 1936, George de Morsier, a neurologist, described visual hallucinations occurring in older people with intact mental functioning (cited by ffytche 2007). This condition was labelled Charles Bonnet syndrome. The definition was subsequently altered to include visual impairment as the cause of these visual hallucinations (Hedges 2007; Menon 2005; Menon et al. 2003).

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