<<<<homonymous hemianopsia>>>> - but what is it? is anopsia blindness in one eye or both - it's none too clear from AWAD? and does it cover mere impairment eg. RP or macular degeneration???

"Homonymous hemianopsia" is the loss of one side of the field of vision in both eyes. It occurs when there is a lesion in the optic radiations which lie behind the optic chiasm, or damage to the occipital lobe on one side. Basically any damage to the optic tract behind the optic chiasm.

http://www.acbvi.org/albums/Vision/slide18.html

For longer slideshow on visual defects see http://www.acbvi.org/albums/Vision/

For a brief glossary on vision and visual defects see http://www.opt.indiana.edu/v514/lab6.htm

hey doc thanks for that. makes me remember why i love this board, even if i'm usually too busy to contribute - the combined talent is so impressive!!!

Let me add my welcome, statwomanma.
For a minute I thought "young" senior might be one to add to the oxymoron file, but in light of your bio, I'd say you're the real article. Hope to hear more from you.

slithy

Hey, Alex, was that just a long-winded way of describing the condition my mother always maintained I had - being blind in one eye and not being able to see out of the other, particularly when I didn't want to?

Welcome to the monkeyhouse, statwomanma. A very description nom-de-guerre, I thought after reading your bio. Five? Jeez!

Yep--my nom-de-plume (how do you say nom-de-keyboard?)is professionally related (and the 5 daughters equalled PMS run amok)! It was fun to get response; obviously there is more to AWAD than meets the eye--even to one not afflicted with anopsia--because I was off base about the week's theme. Now am thinking about prefixes indicating "without" or "away from"...but will keep posted.

Welcome, "stats", she said, adopting tsuwm's short-cutting.

Johnjohn, you're back! [delight e]

I'll be very interested to see this week's theme, myself--I can never guess them, though I love to try. Anu, predictable? Har!

<<<<homonymous hemianopsia>>>> - but what is it?


-- "anopsia" is blindness

-- "hemianopisa" is blindness in one-half the visual field, either the right (or left) half,
or perhaps the top (or bottom) half

-- "homonymous hemianopsia" is blindness in the _same_ half of the visual field in both eyes, (e.g. "right homonymous hemianopsia"). It is also possible to be unable to see the inner half of the visual field in both eyes.

The distinction can be helpful in localizing the part of the brain that is causing the blindness - right in front where the optic nerves are, say, as opposed to the back part which identifies the nerve impulses as images.

"anopsia" is blindness

Anu's example makes clear that the word can be used in the figurative sense, not just the strickly medical sense:

Odd then that with the proliferation of discourses surrounding the concept of "the postcolonial," so little attention should have been paid to a text ... There are, I think, three particular difficulties which may help account for that critical anopsia.

The metaphoric usage brings the word within tsuwm's wwftd preference for the "recondite word, especially one not falling into the following categories: medical terms ..."

Down here, we use ~anopia - no S. Is this another US vs UK thing?