Infantile vertical nystagmus
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe

The authors describe the clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes of infants who presented with isolated vertical nystagmus in infancy, age-appropriate visual behaviours and unremarkable neuroimaging studies. The study included eight patients presenting at <1-year-old. All had age-appropriate behaviour. At presentation all grimaced or blinked to light. At follow-up all had normal fix and follow responses and visual acuity measures, when possible, were normal. Vertical nystagmus was first observed at a mean of 1.4 months (1-2.5) and resolved for 87.5% by a mean of 3.8 months (2-10). Nystagmus was intermittent, upbeat and pendular. All investigations were normal. A telephone questionnaire was completed by six parents when children were a mean of 3.5 years (0.5-8.1). One child went on to develop horizontal nystagmus which did not recover. Three children had speech delay. All eight were male. The authors conclude there is a high rate of resolution of infantile vertical nystagmus.

Characteristics and long-term follow-up of isolated vertical nystagmus in infancy.
Jivraj I, Beres SJ, Liu GT.
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY AND STRABISMUS
2018;55:159-63.