Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

Charles Bonnet Syndrome in an Elderly Patient Following Cataract Surgery

Akinboyede Akinyemi, Luis Dabul, Erik Cabrera, Laura Akinyemi, Juan Oms and Jorge Benito

Introduction: The incidence and prevalence of visual impairment among the elderly population in the United States progressively shows an increase. The escalating trend among the geriatric population is relevant not only to ophthalmologists, but surprisingly relevant to Psychiatrists. Advancements in medicine have made state of the art surgical interventions available for individuals with visual impairments. However, Psychiatrists needs to be adequately informed of rare signs pointing towards complex ocular misperception-related disorders among the geriatric population which seem like psychotic episodes. One of such complex diagnoses includes Charles Bonnet syndrome. Case presentation: This case report describes the constellation of presenting symptoms, relevance of a visual field examination and appropriate discharge disposition in an elderly female with a past medical history of cataracts status-post surgical extraction. Presenting symptoms included paranoia, agitation, visual hallucinations, and irritable mood despite treatment with multiple psychotropic medications at home. The working diagnosis of Charles Bonnet Syndrome was effectively utilized in managing this patient. Conclusion: As the incidence of visual impairment and cataract surgeries increase consistently in the United States of America, there is an increased need for Psychiatrists to be more aware of broad neuro-ophthalmology differential diagnoses especially when assessing the behaviors of geriatric patients.