The clinical manifestation of an ERM can be completely asymptomatic or profoundly symptomatic with metamorphopsia,
micropsia or macropsia, decreased visual acuity (VA), and loss of central vision.
Micropsia, perceiving objects as smaller than their original size, can occur due to cerebrovascular disease, (36) psychogenic conditions or in foveal diseases wherein the symptom is unilateral.
Patients typically present with unilateral metamorphopsia, reduced visual acuity, a positive scotoma and
micropsia. The onset of visual symptoms usually occurs during the third trimester but it can also develop during the first and second trimesters.
The authors found that certain phenomena--such as increased intensity of colors, increased vividness of objects, macropsia,
micropsia, and transient paranoia--were specific to the cocaine-induced psychotic state.
This perceptual minification, also known as accommodative
micropsia, was first reported by Wheatstone in 1852 (as cited in Smith, Meehan, & Day, 1992) and may be of much greater practical importance today because of the growing use of virtual image displays.
For example, metamorphopsia or
micropsia associated with CSC can greatly interfere with driving or with work when an occupation requires delicate procedures.
Symptoms include defective vision positive ascotomas, metamorphopsia,
micropsia and vertical diplopia due to tractional detachment of macula.
It is not uncommon, however, for patients with macular oedema to complain of
micropsia. This occurs because the macular oedema effectively spreads the photoreceptors further apart, and the image is hence seen as smaller.
The perceptual symptoms (objects perceived to be smaller and farther away) could be related to accommodative or convergence
micropsia, in which objects appear either to shrink or to recede when accommodation or convergence increases while retinal image size remains constant (McCready, 1965; Ono, Muter, and Mitson, 1974).