Leber hereditary optic neuropathy is an ophthalmic disease that mainly involves the retina and macular tract fibers of the optic nerve papillae, leading to degenerative changes in the optic nerve. It is a common blinding eye disease that occurs in adolescent males, with simultaneous or sequential loss of vision in both eyes. The disease is maternally inherited, i.e. the offspring of the mother may develop the disease but not the offspring of the father. Matrilineal inheritance, also known as mitochondrial inheritance, is caused by mutations in mitochondrial genes, and the disease tends to be normal at birth, with progressively worse vision loss beginning in adolescence. There are also cases of sudden vision loss. Therefore, if more than two cases are found in the family, the possibility of the presence of LHON should be considered. Once the onset of LHON, there is no effective clinical treatment. Very few patients can partially recover their vision in the course of the disease. At present, the main symptomatic treatment, the acute phase of patients often use hormones and other treatments, chronic and atrophic patients, can be used vitamins, coenzyme Q, folic acid, or more vitamin-containing vegetables and fruits and other supportive therapy. For LHON treatment difficulties, early intervention is particularly important. For families at high risk of developing the disease, early detection can be achieved through genetic testing, which can predict the risk of developing the disease in offspring, thus providing early prevention and genetic guidance for patients’ marriage and childbirth.