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Learn about blindness or visual impairment, its causes, effects, and resources for living with vision loss. Find out how to adjust to vision loss, use technology, find jobs, and access braille and other services from AFB.
- Overview
- What are the symptoms of blindness?
- What causes blindness?
- Who’s at risk for blindness?
- How is blindness diagnosed?
- How is blindness treated?
- What’s the long-term outlook?
- How can blindness be prevented?
Overview
Blindness is the inability to see anything, including light.
If you’re partially blind, you have limited vision. For example, you may have blurry vision or the inability to distinguish the shapes of objects. Complete blindness means you can’t see at all.
Legal blindness refers to vision that’s highly compromised. What a person with regular vision can see from 200 feet away, a legally blind person can see from only 20 feet away.
Seek medical attention right away if you suddenly lose the ability to see. Have someone bring you to the emergency room for treatment. Don’t wait for your vision to return.
Depending on the cause of your blindness, immediate treatment may increase your chances for restoring your vision. Treatment may involve surgery or medication.
Symptoms of blindness in infants
Your child’s visual system begins to develop in the womb. It doesn’t fully form until about 2 years of age. By 6 to 8 weeks of age, your baby should be able to fix their gaze on an object and follow its movement. By 4 months of age, their eyes should be properly aligned and not turned inward or outward. The symptoms of visual impairment in young children can include: •constant eye rubbing •an extreme sensitivity to light •poor focusing •chronic eye redness •chronic tearing from their eyes •a white instead of black pupil •poor visual tracking, or trouble following an object with their eyes •abnormal eye alignment or movement after 6 months of age
The following eye diseases and conditions can cause blindness:
•Glaucoma refers to different eye conditions that can damage your optic nerve, which carries visual information from your eyes to your brain.
•Macular degeneration destroys the part of your eye that enables you to see details. It usually affects older adults.
•Cataracts cause cloudy vision. They’re more common in older people.
•A lazy eye can make it difficult to see details. It may lead to vision loss.
•Optic neuritis is inflammation that can cause temporary or permanent vision loss.
The following categories of people are at risk for blindness:
•people with eye diseases, such as macular degeneration and glaucoma
•people with diabetes
•people who have a stroke
•people undergoing eye surgery
•people who work with or near sharp objects or toxic chemicals
A thorough eye exam by an optometrist will help determine the cause of your blindness or partial loss of vision.
Your eye doctor will administer a series of tests that measure:
•the clarity of your vision
•the function of your eye muscles
•how your pupils react to light
They’ll examine the general health of your eyes using a slit lamp. It’s a low-power microscope paired with a high-intensity light.
In some cases of vision impairment, one or more of the following may help restore vision:
•eyeglasses
•contact lenses
•surgery
•medication
If you experience partial blindness that can’t be corrected, your doctor will provide guidance on how to function with limited vision. For example, you can use a magnifying glass to read, increase the text size on your computer, and use audio clocks and audiobooks.
A person’s long-term outlook for restoring vision and slowing vision loss is better when treatment is preventive and sought immediately.
Surgery can effectively treat cataracts. They don’t necessarily result in blindness. Early diagnosis and treatment are also important in cases of glaucoma and macular degeneration to help slow down or stop vision loss.
To detect eye diseases and help prevent vision loss, get regular eye examinations. If you receive a diagnosis of certain eye conditions, such as glaucoma, treatment with medication can help prevent blindness.
To help prevent vision loss, the American Optometric Association recommends you have your child’s eyes examined:
•at 6 months of age
•at 3 years of age
•every year between 6 and 17 years old
If you notice symptoms of vision loss between routine visits, make an appointment with their eye doctor immediately.
- DictionaryBlind/blīnd/
adjective
- 1. unable to see because of injury, disease, or a congenital condition: "a blind man"
- 2. lacking perception, awareness, or discernment: "she was blind to the realities of her position"
verb
- 1. cause (someone) to be unable to see, permanently or temporarily: "the injury temporarily blinded him"
- 2. deprive (someone) of understanding, judgment, or perception: "somehow Clare and I were blinded to the truth"
noun
- 1. people who are unable to see: "guide dogs for the blind"
- 2. a screen for a window, especially one on a roller or made of slats: "she pulled down the blinds"
adverb
- 1. without being able to see clearly: "he was the first pilot in history to fly blind"
Aug 10, 2023 · Learn about the causes, prevalence, impact and strategies to address vision impairment and blindness worldwide. Find out the leading causes of vision loss, such as refractive errors, cataract and glaucoma, and how to prevent or treat them with quality eye care.
Learn about the different types of blindness, such as partial, complete, congenital and legal blindness, and their causes and treatments. Find out how to prevent and manage vision loss and live with blindness.
Legally blind indicates that a person has less than 20/200 vision in the better eye after best correction (contact lenses or glasses), or a field of vision of less than 20 degrees in the better eye. Totally blind students learn via braille or other non-visual media.
Learn the meaning of blind as an adjective, verb, noun, and adverb in English. Find out how to use blind in different contexts, such as sight, anger, test, window, and idioms.