Latent and Manifest-latent nystagmus

Latent and Manifest-latent nystagmus are congenital nystagmus occur in essential infantile esotropia. Latent nystagmus is characterized by a nasally directed drift of the nonfixating eye, followed by a fast corrective saccade in the temporal direction. Upon changing fixation to the fellow eye the direction of the nystagmus reverses. True latent nystagmus that is present only with one eye occluded is rare and in most patients a manifest nystagmus is present with both eyes open; hence the term manifest-latent nystagmus.

Since differentiation between manifest-latent and manifest nystagmus is often not possible on in small children, both conditions are easily confused. Most authors report that manifest nystagmus occurs less commonly with essential infantile esotropia than do latent and manifest-latent nystagmus.