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Nystagmus is a relatively common clinical condition, affecting one in every 5,000 to 10,000 individuals.One survey in Oxfordshire, England identified one in every 670 children by the age of two as manifesting nystagmus.:
- Vestibular nystagmus usually combines a rotational component with vertical or horizontal eye movements and may be spontaneous or positional.
- Spontaneous vestibular nystagmus is nystagmus that occurs randomly, regardless of the position of the patient's head.
- Positional nystagmus is different from spontaneous nystagmus in that it occurs when a persons head is in a specific position
Congenital nystagmus (CN) is a term which is applied a diverse group of abnormal eye movements which are noted at birth or shortly thereafter. Congenital nystagmus is included under the category of disorders of fixation because it can frequently present as a severe gaze-evoked nystagmus, and because it is often increased by attempts at fixation. Congenital nystagmus is universal in albinism and also occurs in achromatopsia. Such patients usually show rounding of slow-phases, with convexity in the direction of gaze. Such "increasing exponential velocity profiles" are typical of congenital nystagmus.
Manifest latent nystagmus (MLN) was identified in 31 patients by accurate eye movement records. All the patients had horizontal tropias, and the nystagmus fast phases were always in the direction of viewing eye. The slow phases of MLN are decreasing-velocity exponentials while those of the jerk form of congenital nystagmus (CN) are increasing velocity exponentials.
The most common types of infantile nystagmus are 'congenital nystagmus' (CN) and latent/manifest latent nystagmus (LMLN). Many people with CN are also partially sighted; some are registered blind; few of these can drive a car, most encounter some difficulties in everyday life -- both practical and social -- and some lose out on education and employment opportunities. However, CN or LMLN by themselves do not necessarily reduce acuity substantially and many people with these disorders lead normal, active lives. Those with very poor vision usually have associated sensory deficits responsible for the greater part of their vision loss