BCEN CEN Practice Question

Sudden onset of multiple floaters and photopsia followed by a curtain or shadow moving over part of the visual field is classic for a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Liquefied vitreous passes through a retinal tear, separating the neurosensory retina from the pigment epithelium. This is an ocular emergency that requires immediate ophthalmologic evaluation to prevent permanent vision loss.

Distractors:

• Acute angle-closure glaucoma produces severe eye pain, headache, nausea, and halos around lights due to a rapid rise in intraocular pressure, not a curtain-like field defect.
• Age-related macular degeneration leads to gradual, painless loss of central vision and distortion (metamorphopsia), not an abrupt peripheral shadow.
• Bacterial conjunctivitis presents with conjunctival injection and purulent discharge but does not cause floaters, flashes, or visual-field loss.