Patients may also experience difficulties judging movement in depth, which can be particular troublesome during driving or sport (Pulfrich effect).

Likewise, transient worsening of vision with increase of body temperature (Uhthoff's phenomenon) and glare disability are a frequent complaint.

There is contrast enhancement of the symptomatic optic nerve and sheaths acutely or intrinsic signal increase (looking brighter) within ≥ 3 months.

The OCT shows corresponding optic disc swelling acutely or an inter-eye difference in the thickness of the neurons and their nerves connecting the eye with the brain in above 4-5% within ≥ 3 months after onset.

Some other common causes of optic neuritis include infection (e.g. a tooth abscess in the upper jaw, syphilis, Lyme disease, herpes zoster), autoimmune disorders (e.g. lupus, neurosarcoidosis, neuromyelitis optica), methanol poisoning, vitamin B12 deficiency, beriberi, dysautonomia (i.e. autonomic nervous system dysfunction), and diabetes, or an injury to the eye.

[16] Less common causes are: papilledema, brain tumor or abscess in the occipital region, cerebral trauma or hemorrhage, meningitis, arachnoidal adhesions, sinus thrombosis, liver dysfunction, or late stage kidney disease.

[5] In most MS-associated optic neuritis, visual function spontaneously improves over 2–3 months, and there is evidence that corticosteroid treatment does not affect the long term outcome.

[26] A Cochrane systematic review studied the effect of corticosteroids for treating people with acute optic neuritis.

[29] In Charles Dickens' Bleak House, the main character, Esther Summerville, has a transient episode of visual loss, the symptoms of which are also seen in people who have optic neuritis.

[30] Legal historian William Searle Holdsworth suggested that the events in Bleak House took place in 1827.