What is optic nerve hypoplasia?
The optic nerve sends all vision messages to the brain. Sometimes it does not grow before babies are born. People who are born without the optic nerve growing have optic nerve hypoplasia. If the optic nerve did not grow, vision messages do not get to the brain. Many people who have optic nerve hypoplasia also have septo-optic dysplasia. You can read about septo-optic dysplasia on this web site. What causes optic nerve hypoplasia? No one knows what causes optic nerve hypoplasia. Some people who have it have mothers who were very young when they were born. More children are born with optic nerve hypoplasia in areas where food is grown. Maybe the poison used to kill bugs on farms also makes the optic nerve stop growing. Doctors do not know for sure. What kind of vision do people have who have optic nerve hypoplasia? Some people who have optic nerve hypoplasia can see a lot. Some cannot see at all. The ones who can see sometimes have a hard time understanding what they see. This is called
