Abstract

Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) is the affectation of the visual function, secondary to a damage caused by a direct or indirect traumatic mechanism over the optic nerve. It occurs in approximately 0.5 to 5% of closed head injuries, and in 2.5% of patients with maxillofacial trauma and mid-face fractures. The types of TON are direct, anterior indirect, posterior indirect, and chiasmal. This work aims to offer an updating in traumatic optic neuropathy. We made a search in international data bases such as PubMed, ClinicalTrial, Ebsco, Hinari and so on, and found 32 articles which were used in this review article. We used the following keywords: traumatic optic neuropathy, optic nerve, trauma, visual loss, visual disease. 70% of the articles correspond to the last five years. This review was redacted using Microsoft Office Word 2016 in a laptop Asus with Window 10 system. We made a compilation with diverse therapeutic options based principally in axonal regeneration developed by researchers during the last decade.  The present review article provides an updating regarding potential strategies for axonal regeneration and optic nerve repair, focusing on the researches of many investigators around the world. Nowadays, therapeutic options have advanced in many fields, but still more researches must be done to find a definitive solution for traumatic optic neuropathy in a near future.

Key words: Traumatic optic neuropathy, optic nerve, trauma, visual loss, visual disease.