A Life Of Darkness : Major Causes Of Blindness

The cataracts within the eye often changes in the lens of the eye. As people grow older the lens in the eye starts to change and can start to appear cloudy looking, this often happens and stops the process of the eye lens from being able to change shape or even to transmit the light properly. The cataracts may start to form between the ages of 50 and 60 years old and can often take a while to develop. If you are known to have diabetes then that also contributes to poor cataracts.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of blind is “unable to see; sightless” (Definition of Blind in English, 2015). However, I do not like to be put in such a box. I define blindness as merely a heightening of other senses. What do you think of when you hear the word sight? More than likely you think of shapes, colors, and objects. My idea of sight consists of many senses; smell, touch, sounds, those are the things that I “see” with. How about the word blind; what do you think of then? The most common relation to the word blind is disabled; however, we are a very abled people. Even though I carry a cane among my person I get through my daily life just as any other able-bodied human being (Question 1).

A medical definition of vision impairment is a sine qua non that prohibits 20/20 vision in one or both eyes (Bowman, Bowman, Dutton & Royal National Institute for the Blind, 2001; Vision Australia, 2015; Webster & Roe, 1998). Examples of vision impairment include, cataracts, which has the lens inside the eye increasingly cloudy; albinism, which is passed down genetically affecting clear vision and causes sensitivity to bright light; optic nerve damage, which affects field of vision as those nerves controlling vision are disrupted; macular degeneration, where parts of the retina that control colour and fine details are affected; retinitis pigmentosa, which is an ongoing reduction of the field of vision available and nystagmus, where the eye flickers involuntary (Bowman, Bowman, Dutton & Royal National Institute for the Blind, 2001; American Foundation for the Blind, 2015; Vision Australia, 2015 ; Baton Rouge Regional Eye Bank, 2015). John suffers from retinitis

Macular Degeneration is a disease of the eye that gradually causes loss of a person’s central vision. Approximately 1.75 million Americans suffer from vision loss associated with the disease (All About Vision 1). The leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 60, Macular Degeneration, exists in two types (National Eye Institute 1). Both the wet and dry versions of the disease have similarities in risk factors, but differ in symptoms and treatments.

Explanation: This is a case of angle-closure glaucoma. Glaucoma is the second-leading cause of blindness in the U.S. It most often occurs in people over age 40. People at risk for angle-closure glaucoma usually show no symptoms before an attack. Some early symptoms of an attack may include blurred vision, halos, mild headaches or eye pain. People with these symptoms should be checked by their ophthalmologist as soon as possible. An attack of

Visual impairment is a state wherein an individual experiences difficulty in seeing or not being able to see anything physical presented to them. According to Mandal, MD (2013) It is a state where a visually impaired person’s eyesight cannot be corrected back to a “normal level”. Visual impairment is often associated with old age. In Europe, an estimated 15.5 million people have visual impairment and in seven countries in Europe, about 50% of blindness is caused by age-related macular degeneration. (Dibb,

256 million people worldwide have low vision (Marcovitz 32). 39 million of those people suffer from the inability to see. The definition of blindness is not being able to see (20). However, complete loss of vision is also used interchangeably for the definition (“Blindness”). Stevie Wonder is one of the thirty-nine million people who experience blindness (Brown 6).

Glaucoma is a condition that affects the eyes by causing damage to the optic nerve within the eye and it can worsen over time. It’s generally associated with an increase in pressure inside of the eye. More often than not it’s inherited and may not reveal itself until much later in life. The increase in pressure is known as intraocular pressure and can damage the optic nerve that’s responsible for transmitting images to your brain. Sadly, if you fail to recognise that you’re suffering from glaucoma and neglect to have it treated, then the damage to the optic nerve from high pressure can become permanent resulting in permanent vision loss. Without treatment, glaucoma can and will result in total and irreversible blindness within a

Glaucoma is several conditions of the eye that damage the optic nerve, which is vital to perfect vision. This damage is caused due to an abnormally high pressure in your eye. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. It can happen at any age but is most common in older adults. If you lose your vision due to glaucoma, it is not possible to gain it back. It is important to get regular eye appointments because if glaucoma is caught early, the loss of vision can be slowed or prevented. There are two types of glaucoma. Open-angle glaucoma and acute angle-closure glaucoma. The symptoms for these two are very different. Open-angle glaucoma symptoms include patchy blind spots in your central or side vision,

Glaucoma is caused when fluid is overproduced and it can't flow out at its normal rate which causes pressure to build up.

Fetter, James. “A False Image of Blindness” New York Harcourt Brace and, Company. 12 December 2008

Glaucoma is a group of eye disorders that cause blindness by hurting the optic nerve, which is the large nerve that is responsible for vision. In glaucoma, the optic nerve damage is related to a change in the fluid pressure that circulates around the eyeball. In many cases, Glaucoma occurs when the eye's fluid pressure is high, but it can also occur when the pressure is measured as normal.

glaucoma 3 is a disease that leads to vision loss. This vision loss is due to an increase in intraocular pressure due to a greater secretion rate of aqueous humor than the drainage rate in the chambers in the eye.This increased intraocular pressure builds up in the eye leading to damage of nerve fibers and blood vessels, damaging the optical nerve. the two main types of glaucoma are open angle glaucoma (a slow build up in blockage) and angle closure glaucoma ( rapid/sudden blockage), both are caused by blockage at the trabecular meshwork (location of drainage). The aqueous humor is a transparent gelatin that creates the pressure in the eye of a glaucoma patient, it is used to transport nutritional substances, immunological substances, and is used to give the eye its globe shape. The aqueous humor enters the eye’s posterior chamber through the ciliary body into the posterior chamber (between iris and lense) then goes through the pupil into the anterior chamber (between the iris and the cornea) and drains out through the trabecular meshwork (filter-like tissue).

Color Blindness can have many symptoms depending on how radically your condition is. It also is a bit misunderstood to what it actually is; it is not blindness at all but loss of color sensitivity. Many people do not fully understand how it works because of how differently people see things when color blind. Many people explain it as seeing shades rather than colors because when someone is colorblind that person may see colors in a different way than anyone else. Also there are many different version of color blindness someone could have. Even though Color Blindness, through rare, it can effect people in ways no one else can understand except the person affected with this condition.

Even though blindness is permanent for some, it can be cured depending on the cause.