Optic neuropathy in uremia.

We examined three patients who developed optic neuropathies while undergoing chronic hemodialysis. One patient developed severe bilateral deterioration of vision, but recovered totally four weeks after discontinuing deferoxamine chelation therapy. Another patient had bilateral visual loss associated with chronic papilledema of idiopathic increased intracranial pressure. A third showed atypically severe consecutive anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. The latter two patients showed little improvement with high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone therapy combined with more vigorous hemodialysis. These cases, in addition to those previously described, underscore the heterogeneity of optic nerve disease in patients with uremia.