Morbid Medical Question Concerning Blinding

One of my characters gets beaten up, and during the ordeal, she gets hit above her left eye. This causes her to loose the sight in that eye.

I know that this is medically plausible; it happened to Seabiscuit's jockey. Well, that was a pebble, not a fist, but the principle's the same. What I want to know is how this would happen. Will she loose sight gradually, or all at once? For how many hours/days will the pain continue?

Any comments and help are GREATly appreciated.





^ That's not a chicken, it's a fact.

Wikipedia.org wrote:Abnormalities and injuries

Eye injuries, most often occurring in people under 30, are the leading cause of monocular blindness (vision loss in one eye) throughout the United States. Injuries and cataracts affect the eye itself, while abnormalities such as optic nerve hypoplasia affect the nerve bundle that sends signals from the eye to the back of the brain, which can lead to decreased visual acuity.

People with injuries to the occipital lobe of the brain can, despite having undamaged eyes and optic nerves, still be legally or totally blind.

I found that this site is a really good resource. Blow to the head is the last on the list of causes for blindness. Wrong Diagnosis – Blindness

Wrong Diagnosis wrote: Was the onset of blindness sudden or gradual and progressive? - Sudden onset of blindness may occur in optic neuritis, retinal vein thrombosis, central retinal artery occlusion, vitreous hemorrhage, detached retina, carotid artery thrombosis, temporal arteritis, injuries to the optic nerve, retrobulbar neuritis, fracture of the skull, glaucoma, posterior cerebral artery occlusion, multiple sclerosis and hysteria.

I read somewhere that a blow to the head can cause acute blindness or just blurry vision, depending.

Hope this helps.

Ta,
Cal.

Thanks Cal, that site's really helpful! *gives cookie*