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Optic Disc (Optic Nerve Head)

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology

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Synonyms

Optic nerve head

Definition

The optic disc is the most anterior (or distal) portion of the optic nerve and extends from the surface of the retina to the myelinated portion of the optic nerve, which begins just behind the sclera. It is composed of about 1.2 million nerve fibers (axons) that originate in the ganglion cell layer of the retina.

Basic Characteristics

The optic disc is located nasal to and slightly superior to the macula and is an aggregation of fibers of the retinal nerve fiber layer as they exit the intraocular space through the sclera to form the optic nerve. Retinal ganglion axons bend acutely as they enter the optic nerve and are divided into about 1000 fascicles. They then pass through one of a few hundred holes that perforate the lamina cribrosa, the collagenous fenestrated support of the optic disc. The blood supply of the optic disc is the central retinal artery anteriorly but shifts to branches of the ophthalmic artery posteriorly. The average size of the...

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Further Reading

  • Allingham R et al (2005) Shields’ textbook of glaucoma. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia

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  • Alward LM (2000) Glaucoma: the requisites in ophthalmology. Mosby, St. Louis

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold D, Lewis R (2002) Clinical eye atlas. AMA Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Harizman N et al (2006) The ISNT rule and differentiation of normal from glaucomatous eyes. Arch Ophthalmol 124(11):1579–1583

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yanoff M, Dueker J (2004) Ophthalmology. Mosby, St. Louis

    Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University, 1365 Clifton Road, 30322, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Annette Giangiacomo

Authors
  1. Annette Giangiacomo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annette Giangiacomo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Medical University of Wien Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Wien, Austria

    Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main Department of Ophthalmology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Kohnen

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Giangiacomo, A. (2015). Optic Disc (Optic Nerve Head). In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_112-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_112-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35951-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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