types of nystagmus
Last reviewed 01/2018
The two types of nystagmus are:
- jerk nystagmus:
- a slow drift of the eyes
- a rapid corrective movement back to the point of fixation
- this is the most common form of nystagmus
- pendular nystagmus:
- eye movements are sinusoidal, that is both phases of movement have the same velocity
- the nystagmus is always in one plane, for example horizontal pendular nystagmus remains in the horizontal plane even on upward gaze
- pendular nystagmus may be converted to jerk nystagmus at the extremems of gaze