What are cotton wool spots on the retina?
Cotton-wool spots (CWSs) are common retinal manifestations of many diseases including diabetes mellitus, systemic hypertension, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Clinically they appear as whitish, fluffy patches on the retina and eventually fade with time.
What are cotton wool spots in diabetic retinopathy?
Cotton-wool spots are nerve fiber layer infarctions from occlusion of precapillary arterioles. With the use of fluorescein angiography, there is no capillary perfusion. These are frequently bordered by microaneurysms and vascular hyperpermeability.
What are dot and blot hemorrhages?
Dot and blot hemorrhages occur as microaneurysms rupture in the deeper layers of the retina, such as the inner nuclear and outer plexiform layers. These appear similar to microaneurysms if they are small; fluorescein angiography may be needed to distinguish between the two.
What layer of the retina is hard exudates?
The hard exudates are composed of lipid and proteinaceous material, such as fibrinogen and albumin that leak from the impaired blood–retinal barrier. They are deposited primarily in the outer plexiform layer of the retina.
How are cotton wool spots formed?
Cotton wool spots are an abnormal finding on funduscopic exam of the retina of the eye. They appear as fluffy white patches on the retina. They are caused by damage to nerve fibers and are a result of accumulations of axoplasmic material within the nerve fiber layer.
Are cotton-wool spots serious?
Cotton-wool spots are tiny white areas on the retina, the layer of light-sensing cells lining the back of the eye. Caused by a lack of blood flow to the small retinal blood vessels, they usually disappear without treatment and do not threaten vision. They can, however, be an indication of a serious medical condition.
Are cotton-wool spots normal?
In otherwise healthy patients, the observance of a cotton wool spot (CWS) is not considered normal. A single cotton wool spot in one eye can be the earliest ophthalmoscopic finding in diabetic or hypertensive retinopathy.
What causes hard exudates on retina?
Retinal edema and hard exudates are caused by the breakdown of the blood-retina barrier, allowing leakage of serum proteins, lipids, and protein from the vessels.
What are the various layers of retina?
Anatomic layers of the retina
- The inner limiting membrane.
- The nerve fiber layer.
- The ganglion cells layer.
- The inner plexiform layer.
- The inner nuclear layer.
- The outer plexiform layer.
- The outer nuclear layer.
- The outer limiting membrane.
What causes cotton wool spots in the retina?
Introduction. Cotton-wool spots (CWSs) are retinal lesions, most commonly seen as manifestations of diabetes mellitus and systemic hypertension. They are also associated with a number of other etiologies including ischemic, embolic, connective tissue, neoplastic, and infectious, 1, 2 but occasionally no underlying cause can be identified.
What was the mislabeling of cotton wool spots?
Figure 1. Lesions such as these at one time led to the mislabeling of cotton-wool spots as “soft exudates.
Is it normal to have cotton wool in your eye?
Disease. In otherwise healthy patients, the observance of a cotton wool spot (CWS) is not considered normal. A single cotton wool spot in one eye can be the earliest ophthalmoscopic finding in diabetic or hypertensive retinopathy. In a series of patients who had cotton-wool spots and no known medical history, diastolic blood pressure equal to…
What causes yellow spots on the side of the retina?
Differential diagnosis of other yellow-white retinal lesions may include: myelinated nerve fibers, hard exudate, retinal infiltrate, retinal drusen, chorioretinal atrophy, intraluminal plaque and early endogenous chorioretinitis . Work up and treatment are directed towards the underlying etiology.