porropsia

   The term porropsia comes from the Latin verb portare (to carry, to transport, to take away) and the Greek verb opsis (seeing). It translates loosely as 'seeing things being carried away' and is used to denote a visual distortion in which stationary objects appear to be moving away from the observer. The German neologism Porropsie was introduced in or shortly before 1904 by the German psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Heil-bronner (1869-1914). Phenomenologically, various types of porropsia can be discerned. In 1937 the Japanese physician Chuo-Gauka-Iho Arimoto proposed a classification of three phe-nomenological types, which he referred to as porromicropsia, porropsia proper, and porro-macropsia. In Arimoto's system, the term por-romicropsia refers to a type of porropsia in which seemingly receding objects also appear to decrease in size, whereas in porropsia proper no changes are perceived in the apparent size. The term porromacropsia is used by him to denote a condition in which seemingly receding objects appear to increase in size. As a class, porrop-sia may be classified as a *metamorphopsia or a type of * dysmetropsia. It may present as an isolated symptom or as part of a cluster of symptoms known as the * Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Although Heilbronner considered por-ropsia to be an *entoptic phenomenon, its occurrence in the context of * aurae indicates that a central origin is equally possible. Today the concept of porropsia would seem to be assimilated by the concept of *teleopsia, which refers to a visual distortion in which objects appear to be further away than they are. Although the two phenomena are not identical, the terms porropsia and teleopsia are sometimes used as if they were synonyms.

   References

   Vujic, V., Ristic, J. (1939). Ein Fall von Porropsie mit gestörter palpatorischer Größenschätzung. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Nervenheilkunde, 150, 30-38.