Visual hallucinations may occur in any patient with severe vision loss. Patients are often afraid to mention them for fear someone will think they are crazy. These are in the vast majority of cases not psychotic hallucinations, but are related to the brain misinterpreting the distorted image. This condition is known as Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and has been reported in the literature for over 200 years. Bonnet, Swiss naturalist, first described this as he observed in his grandfather.
Depth perception is a very fragile visual function.
Any decrease in vision may disrupt ocular depth perception. Two full functioning eyes are required for ocular depth perception. Threading a needle and other skills that require depth perception may become difficult. Patients often describe having some days when their vision is worse. I hope this list will help those suffering from macular degeneration and those working with ARMD patients to better understand the complex set of vision problems associated with macular degeneration.