1) Expert Group on Vision Loss of the Global Burden of Disease Study. Causes of blindness and visual impairment in 2020 and trends over 30 years: assessing the prevalence of avoidable blindness in relation to “VISION 2020: the right to vision”. Lancet Global Health 2020. doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30489-7 Anyone can be affected by low vision as it results from a variety of conditions and injuries. Due to age-related disorders such as macular degeneration and glaucoma, visual impairment is more common in adults over the age of 45 and even more common in adults over the age of 75. For example, one in six adults over the age of 45 has poor vision; One in four adults over the age of 75 has poor eyesight. There are several ways to describe the severity of a person`s vision loss. The World Health Organization defines “visual impairment” as visual acuity between 20/70 and 20/400 with the best possible correction or a field of view of 20 degrees or less. “Blindness” is defined as visual acuity less than 20/400, with the best possible correction, or a field of view of 10 degrees or less. For more information on definitions of statutory blindness, see Assessment of Disability in Social Security, a publication of the Social Security Administration. Then they give you eye drops to dilate (dilate) your pupil and look for other eye problems, including conditions that could be causing low vision. Unfortunately, poor eyesight is usually permanent.
Glasses, medications, and surgery usually can`t cure low vision, but sometimes they can improve vision, help you do your daily activities more easily, or prevent your eyesight from deteriorating. Most of our funding comes from people like you. During 2020, we studied the impact of COVID-19 on people who are blind or partially sighted and advocated for meaningful responses to the pandemic. This work is only possible thanks to donations from people like you. If you appreciate the information you found on our website, make a gift today! “Legal blindness” is a definition used by the U.S. government to determine eligibility for job training, rehabilitation, education, disability benefits, equipment for the visually impaired, and tax exemption programs. It`s not a functional definition of low vision and doesn`t tell us much about what a person can and can`t see. This one billion people includes people with moderate or severe television disability or blindness due to untreated refractive errors (88.4 million), cataracts (94 million), glaucoma (7.7 million), corneal opacities (4.2 million), diabetic retinopathy (3.9 million) and trachoma (2 million). and near vision disorders due to untreated presbyopia (826 million) (1).
Poor vision is used to describe a loss of visual acuity while maintaining some vision. It applies to people with vision who are unable to read a newspaper at a normal distance, even with glasses or contact lenses. People with visual impairments often need lighting adjustments and/or increased pressure to read something. There are two specific types of visual impairment: Visual acuity alone cannot indicate how much a person`s life is affected by vision loss. It is important to assess the extent to which a person is using the vision they have. Two people may have the same visual acuity, but you can use your eyesight better to perform everyday tasks. Like the term “legal blindness,” “visual impairment” is not a functional definition that tells us a lot about what a person can and cannot see. It is more of a classification system than a definition. Nearly two-thirds of children with visual impairment also have one or more other developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, hearing loss or epilepsy. Children with more severe visual impairment are more likely to have additional disabilities than children with mild visual impairment.
Like visual impairment, there are many different definitions of visual impairment. “Visual impairment” is a broad term that describes a wide range of visual functions, from visual impairment to complete blindness. Not all ophthalmologists agree with an exclusively numerical description (or visual acuity) of visual impairment. Here`s another—more functional—definition of low vision: it`s important to recognize the anger and frustration you may feel when you learn that your vision loss is irreversible. Getting help to treat these feelings and learning about vision rehabilitation strategies will help you stay active and avoid depression. Visual impairment means visual disturbances that cannot be corrected with glasses, surgery, or medication. The most common cause of visual impairment is macular degeneration, an age-related condition that affects the central part of the visual field.