Retinitis Pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) describes a group of related diseases that tend to run in families and cause a slow but progressive loss of vision. RP affects the rods and cones of the retina. RP usually affects both eyes equally with severity ranging from no visual problems in some families to blindness at birth in others. RP gets its name from the fact that one of the signs is pigmented depostis in the retina that can be seen during an eye exam.

The earliest symptom of retinitis pigmentosa, sometimes noticed in childhood, is night blindness or difficulty with night vision. People with normal vision adjust to the dark quickly, but people with night blindness adjust very slowly or not at all. A loss of side vision, or tunnel vision, is also common as RP progresses. Unfortunately, the combination of night blindness and the loss of peripheral vision can be severe, leading to legal blindness in many people.

While there is often a pattern of inheritance for RP, 40% of RP patients have no known previous family history. Learning more about RP in your family can help you and your ophthalmologist predict how RP will affect you.

Usher's syndrome, in which a person is both deaf and blind, can be associated with RP. The incidence of Usher's syndrome is difficult to determine but surveys of patients suggest up to 10% of RP patients are deaf It is the most frequent cause of combined deaf-blindness in adults.

Considerable research is being done to find the hereditary cause of RP. As hereditary defects are discovered it may be possible to develop treatments to prevent progression of the disease. While developments are on the horizon, particularly in the area of genetic research, there is currently no cure for retinitis pigmentosa.

Nutritional supplements may have an effect on some forms of RP.