What are the clinical signs of optic nerve atrophy?

• A. Blindness
• B. Hyperpigmentation of retina
• C. Increased color vision
• D. Thickened optic nerve head

Answer: (A)

Optic nerve atrophy means loss of nerve fibers that carry visual information from the retina to the brain, so vision declines. The hallmark functional sign is reduced or lost vision, which can progress to blindness as the degeneration advances. On exam you’d also expect a pale, chalk-white optic disc with a possible afferent pupillary defect and decreased color vision or visual field loss. The other options don’t fit: retinal hyperpigmentation isn’t a feature of optic nerve atrophy, color vision isn’t increased (it’s usually reduced), and a thickened optic nerve head points to swelling or other conditions rather than atrophy. Thus, the clinical consequence most aligned with optic nerve atrophy is loss of vision, i.e., blindness.