Live Life Team
Visual impairment literally means a condition where the patient is either blind or has a partial blindness. In this condition, the vision can also get distorted, giving a blurry visual of things. This condition is divided into two major categories – partial sightedness and total blindness. Partial vision is when the person can see, but the vision is very low, and this can be corrected using glasses. Total blindness is when the person has a very severe loss in vision, and cannot see anything. Even wearing glasses or lenses will not help such a condition.
Symptoms of visual impairment
Losing the vision may be a slow, gradual process or can even be very sudden and total. Most cases of visual impairment are slow processes, gradually losing the vision over a long period of time.
The symptoms of visual impairment start off with a reduction in the vision of the patient, after which the eye might start paining, with a grittish-burning sensation in the eye. The vision then gets foggish, distortion of objects starts, and things become unfocused.
Causes of visual impairment
Temporary visual impairment is caused due to conditions like cataracts or glaucoma, which can be removed via surgery and with eye drops respectively. Some other causes for visual impairment are: trauma of the eyes or an injury; premature birth followed by an abnormal growth of blood vessels; diabetes; macular degeneration; genetic situations. Blindness can also be the effect of lack of Vitamin A in places where food is scarce, and also by diseases like the trachoma or river blindness.
Some other causes for visual impairment include: –
Sub-acute glaucoma can lead to the vision getting blurred and foggy, with a dull pain in the eyes.
Macular degeneration leads to vision distortion, making straight lines look wavy; sizes of objects are changed etc.
Cataracts lead to blurry vision, and sometimes de-colouration.
The dry eye syndrome also leads to a gritty feeling in the eyes.
Retinopathy with diabetes leads to double sights.
Age related macular degeneration or ARMD is another form of visual impairment that is caused due to the age factor. It creates a reduced vision ability, which gradually increases as the person gets older. Smokers have a greater risk of contracting this condition than non-smokers.
Diagnosing visual impairment
The different means of diagnosing this condition are as follows:
Basic sight test – also called as the Snellen test, this is used to check whether the vision is perfect or has any defects. In this test, the person is asked to read certain charts, on which the letters or words get gradually smaller. The distance from the letter board is given by the doctor, and based upon how many lines one can read, they are diagnosed with having either partial blindness, or jus a blurry vision problem or anything else as the case may be.
Some other vision tests that are used are: visual field test, tonometry, and ophthal moscopy.
Preventing visual impairment
The best way to keep your vision in check is to have regular visits to the eye specialist, and keep track of the vision count. This is especially necessary in case of drivers, people who work in front of computers etc.
