Causes and types of Blindness
  • By EYE Q India
  • March 31, 2020
Eye care tips, Retina Problems

Blindness is the inability to see anything with your eyes, even light. This loss in vision could be due to an injury or accident. A person with partial blindness has limited vision. It must be noted that the term blindness is used in the relative form and for a person with visual impairment or low vision.

Causes of Blindness

The commonly known causes of blindness can be Glaucoma, age-related macular, degeneration corneal opacities, deficiency of Vitamin A, retinopathy of prematurity, vascular diseases involving the retina or optic nerve. Other possible reasons may include stroke, ocular inflammatory disease, retinitis pigmentosa (a genetic disorder in which retina is unable to respond to light), primary or secondary malignancies of the eye congenital abnormalities, hereditary diseases and chemical poisoning from toxic agents, such as methanol. Some of these are treatable or preventable with timely examination and treatment.

There are three commonly other types of blindness: Colour blindness, night blindness and snow blindness. In which special visual function are deprived but the patient can perform his daily activity in normal light.

Types of Blindness

The causes of all these types differ from each other.

Colour blindness – is the inability or the difficulty to perceive different shades of colours, specifically red and green. This is a genetic disorder and affects men more, as compared to women. People with colour blindness do not have a vision loss but lack of sense of colours.

Night blindness – refers to the difficulty of seeing in low and dim lights. Night blindness can be both genetic and acquired. The eye functions well in proper day-light or illuminated areas. This is not a case of complete blindness.

Snow blindness – is the loss of vision when exposed to ultraviolet light. This is a form of temporary blindness caused by swelling of cells in the corneal surface.

Another type of blindness is congenital blindness in which a person is born blind. It usually happens when the organ is not developed properly or due to some complications during pregnancy. In either of the cases, the person is born blind and cannot see due to underdeveloped organs.

Most cases of acquired blindness can be treated to a great extent. Choose EyeQ Vision’s Glaucoma Treatment Services and Retina Treatment Services to save your precious eyes, before it’s too late.