Retinitis Pigmentosa or RP – AllAboutVision.com

By Marilyn Haddrill

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare, inherited disease in which the light-sensitive retina of the eye slowly and progressively degenerates. Eventually, blindness results.

When retinitis pigmentosa is suspected, visual field testing likely will be conducted during or after your routine eye exams to determine the extent of peripheral vision loss. Other specialized eye tests may be needed to determine whether you have lost night or color vision.

The first signs of retinitis pigmentosa usually occur in early childhood, when both eyes typically are affected. Night vision can be poor, and the field of vision may begin to narrow.

When RP first starts to appear, the light-sensing cells that are responsible for vision in dim light (rods) gradually deteriorate and seeing at night becomes more difficult.

During later stages of retinitis pigmentosa, only a small area of central vision remains, along with slight peripheral vision.

It's very difficult to predict the extent of vision loss or how fast it will progress when you have retinitis pigmentosa. Your eye doctor will monitor the health of your retinal cells and administer tests to determine how well you can see.

At some point, you may be advised to drive only during the daytime or on well-lighted streets at night. Eventually you may be unable to see well enough to drive at all.

Rather than being considered a single disease, retinitis pigmentosa instead is viewed as a group of diseases affecting how light-sensitive cells in the back of the eye function. Not much is known about what causes retinitis pigmentosa, except that the disease is inherited.

The eye condition is associated with at least 32 different genes,* which control traits that are passed along in a number of different ways. At times, the genetic trait is dominant and likely to be passed along to a child when a parent has RP. At other times, the trait for retinitis pigmentosa is recessive and may be present for many generations before it appears in a family member.

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Retinitis Pigmentosa or RP - AllAboutVision.com