Charles Bonnet hallucinations occur in elderly people with severe visual sensory deprivation. This disease is frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed by both ophthalmologists and psychiatrist. CBS patients experience these complex visual hallucinations during clear consciousness. That is, psychosis, substance abuse, sleep disorders, focal neurological lesions and acute eye disease are absent. CBS subjects have reduced vision due to peripheral or central eye disease, i.e. macular degeneration.
Individual hallucinations can last from a few seconds to most of the day.
Episodes can occur for periods ranging from days to years, with hallucinations changing in both frequency and complexity during this time. CBS patients most often report people, animals, buildings and scenery. These images may appear static, dynamic or animated. Subjects may react positively or negatively to their visual hallucinations. Additional common characteristics include no personal meaning for the content of the hallucinations and hallucinations vanishing when patients close their eyes.