A scotoma is an area of partial or complete loss of vision within an otherwise normal visual field, perceived as a blind spot or region of reduced sensitivity surrounded by relatively preserved sight. Scotomas may be central, affecting the point of fixation and sharply degrading detailed vision and reading, or perip…
A scotoma is an area of partial or complete loss of vision within an otherwise normal visual field, perceived as a blind spot or region of reduced sensitivity surrounded by relatively preserved sight. Scotomas may be central, affecting the point of fixation and sharply degrading detailed vision and reading, or peripheral, affecting areas away from the centre of gaze. They can be absolute, with total loss of perception in the affected region, or relative, with only diminished sensitivity. Scotomas arise from disturbances anywhere along the visual pathway, including diseases of the retina and macula, damage to the optic nerve, lesions of the optic chiasm and visual tracts, and certain neurological conditions, and they are also a recognised feature of migraine aura. Mapping their size, shape, and location is an important part of clinical assessment because the pattern of visual field loss helps localise the underlying problem. Research published in Ophthalmic Science illustrates this diagnostic role, including a case series of chiasmal lesions presenting with ocular manifestations seen at a tertiary hospital eye centre, in which characteristic visual field defects pointed to disease at the optic chiasm. This page gathers peer-reviewed, open-access research relevant to visual field defects and the conditions that cause them.
1 peer-reviewed article, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 1 article above has been cited 3 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Oct 2025.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Scotoma, linking to each citing work.