Acute Zonal Occult Outer Retinopathy (AZOOR) Name Origin Clinical Features Test Findings Diagnosis Treatment and Prognosis

👁 “AZOOR – When Retinal Damage Is Invisible to the Eye”

Acute Zonal Occult Outer Retinopathy (AZOOR) is a rare retinal disease primarily affecting young, healthy Caucasian females.
Despite sudden symptoms such as photopsia and visual field loss, fundus appears normal in early stages, making diagnosis difficult.

---

✅ Key Clinical Summary of AZOOR

CategoryDescription

Typical Patients	Young, healthy Caucasian women
Laterality	Starts unilaterally, bilateral in 80% over time
Symptoms	Sudden onset photopsia + scotomas, vision often preserved
Visual Field	Enlarging scotomas, often arcuate or ring-shaped
Fundus	Normal early, RPE mottling and atrophy later
Imaging	OCT: Outer retina damage
FAG: mild RPE defects
ICG: hypofluorescent zones
Electrophysiology	Multifocal ERG: focal depression in affected zone
Full-field ERG: slight reduction in a-wave
Treatment	No proven treatment, mostly observation
Prognosis	Good; most retain 20/40 or better vision

---

✅ Clinical Pearl
AZOOR = Photopsia + Visual field defect + Normal fundus = Do MfERG!
Diagnosis hinges on electrophysiologic confirmation.