What Causes Low Vision?
Low vision can result from a variety of diseases, disorders, and injuries that affect the eye. Birth defects, injuries, certain diseases of the body and aging all may lead to loss of sight. Most commonly, it is due to scarring because of deterioration of the central part of the retina (the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye). Many people with low vision have age-related macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma, or diabetic retinopathy. Age-related macular degeneration accounts for almost 45 percent of all cases of low vision.
There are a variety of different causes of low vision, including, but not limited to, the following: • macular degeneration (the most common cause of low vision; involves damage to a person’s central vision making it difficult to read, drive, or perform other daily activities that require fine, central vision) • aging (Aging is a risk factor for low vision, however, persons of any age may be affected.) • congenital defects (present at birth) • injury • disease (including diabetes) • other eye diseases (i.e.
Though most often experienced by the elderly, people of all ages may be affected. Low vision can occur from birth defects, inherited diseases, injuries, diabetes, glaucoma, cataract and aging. The most common cause is macular degeneration, a disease of the retina, the inner layer of the eye that senses light and allows you to see. Macular degeneration causes damage to central vision. It does not cause total blindness, because side (peripheral) vision is not affected.
Eye diseases or conditions may be responsible for visual impairment. Some of the more common causes include: • Macular Degeneration – A disorder that affects the retina, the light sensitive lining at the back of the eye where images are focused. The macula—the area on the retina responsible for sharp central vision—deteriorates, causing blurred vision, which may cause problems such as difficulty reading, and for some, a blind spot in the central area of vision. The most common form of age-related macular degeneration is known as non-exudative, or “dry” form, which usually results in more slowly progressive vision loss. More rapid and severe vision loss comes from exudative, or the “wet” form, of macular degeneration, when abnormal blood vessels develop under the macula and leak fluid and blood. Both the exudative and the non-exudative forms of macular degeneration are age-related, and the leading cause of blindness in people over 50. Recent studies estimate that over 1.6 million older
