Raising Awareness: Living with Low Vision
What Is Low Vision?
Low vision is a phrase that describes a considerable visual impairment that cannot be rectified by glasses, contact lenses, medicine, or eye surgery. It includes:
- In the better eye, loss of best-corrected visual acuity to less than 20/70.
- Visual field reduction is significant. Visual field loss might include tunnel vision (a lack of vision in the peripheral) and blind patches.
- Legal blindness is commonly defined in the United States as visual acuity of 20/200 or worse (in the better eye, with the best feasible vision correction) or a field of view (visual field) of 20 degrees or less.
Low vision can be caused by eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, or cataract. However, you can cope with low vision if you have a good support team including your optometrist, primary eye care professional, mobility specialists, and counselors.
Some Signs That You Have Low Vision
If you face trouble performing the following tasks even with glasses on, it could be an indication of low vision:
- Recognizing the faces of your relatives and friends
- Performing duties that need careful inspection
- Finding it hard to complete chores in dim lighting
- Difficulty in reading street signs, store names, etc.
What Causes Low Vision?
Low eyesight can be caused by various factors. These are frequently the consequence of eye illnesses or injuries or a disease that affects the entire body, such as diabetes. Age-related macular degeneration, diabetes, and glaucoma are all prevalent causes of impaired vision. Low vision can also be caused by eye cancer, albinism, brain damage, or genetic eye problems including retinitis pigmentosa. If you have or are at risk for certain conditions, you are more likely to have poor vision.
Low vision can be caused by a variety of eye disorders and ailments, including:
- Cataracts
- Macular degeneration
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Glaucoma
- Retinitis pigmentosa
- Heredity and eye injuries
Depending on the source of low vision, medicines or surgical options may be available to help delay disease development and provide as much vision as feasible for as long as possible. Those who believe they may have a vision problem that is interfering with their ability to conduct daily tasks should get a full eye exam performed by an eye care practitioner. If your eye care expert discovers that you have vision loss that cannot be effectively repaired with normal eyeglasses, medical therapy, or surgery, they will be able to guide you to the next stages.
How Is Low Vision Diagnosed?
Low vision can be diagnosed with an eye exam by an eye care practitioner. If your vision problems are stopping you from doing things like traveling, cooking, working, or going to school, you should schedule an appointment with your eye doctor. The eye doctor will utilize lights, magnifiers, and special charts to measure visual acuity, depth perception, and visual field, among other things.
Types Of Low Vision
Loss Of Central Vision
A person's side (peripheral) vision remains unaffected by the loss of central vision, resulting in a blur or blind spot. It makes reading, recognizing people, and distinguishing most features in the distance difficult. Mobility, on the other hand, is generally impacted when side vision is intact.
Loss of Side (Peripheral) Vision
People who have lost their peripheral vision are unable to differentiate objects to one or both sides, as well as those directly above and below eye level. Central vision, on the other hand, stays intact, allowing you to see straight ahead, read, and recognize individuals. Peripheral vision loss usually impacts mobility. It can reduce reading speed if it is severe since the person can only see a few words at a time. A word used to describe this phenomenon is "tunnel vision."
Blurred Vision
Blurred vision causes both near and distant vision to be out of focus, even with the maximum possible correction using eyeglasses.
Reduced Contrast Sensitivity
People who lose their contrast sensitivity lose their eyesight quality. They have the impression that there is a broad haze with a filmy or cloudy appearance.
Night Blindness
Night blindness prevents people from seeing outside at night or in poorly lit indoor spaces such as movie theatres or restaurants.
How Cellview Imaging Can Help
Please visit the Cellview Imaging website to discover the innumerable benefits of our state-of-the-art Non-Mydriatic WRI-1 technology that helps doctors detect and manage impaired vision by capturing extremely high definition images of the retina and the surrounding nerves. Doctors can compare images over time to study the progression of the disease. Our devices include cloud capabilities that allow for fully automated image and patient data upload and download to safeguard the database in the event of a hard drive failure. In addition, cloud storage includes encrypted features and robust security measures to ensure all patient data is safe and secured. Unlimited storage is provided, which allows customers to avoid alternative storage methods that are often costly.
Contact Cellview Imaging today to learn more about our technology and help battle various eye disorders that affect thousands of people.