Those who are diagnosed with low vision are not blind but they still have problems with sight even when they use the best spectacles or contact lenses there are. In most cases of low vision a person is affected by it due to two reasons. Low vision can be associated with congenital disease or acquired factors.
Classifying Low Vision
A person whose reduced vision is not corrected by either spectacles or contact lenses is thought to be suffering from impaired vision. It is important to know that here is an established classification of visual impairment. Mild vision loss is considered to be the case when the person’s vision in the better eye with the best correction glasses there are is 20/30 or as high as 20/60. A person is thought to be suffering from moderate low vision when his or her vision is not lower than 20/70 and not higher than 20/160. In the category of legal blindness there are several sub-categories. These sub-categories are severe low vision, profound low vision, near total blindness and total blindness. In case of total blindness a person has no light perception at all.
Visual impairment can be based on visual field loss as well. This loss is referred to loss of peripheral vision.
Many may wonder whether they fall under the category of legally blind. Namely, if their vision cannot be corrected better than 20/200 in their better eye or there is less than 20 degrees of visual field left, they are considered to be legally blind.
It is important to know the underlying causes of vision loss. Cataracts, glaucoma and uveitis are three of the most common causes of vision loss. Apart from these three there are several other causes like macular degeneration, corneal opacity, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy. Low Vision, Its Lifestyle Implications and Rehabilitation
First of all, visual acuity alone is not an excellent predictor of the degree of problems a person may be experiencing. A person with worse vision may perform his or her daily tasks easier than a person with a slightly better vision acuity if his or her visual demands are not difficult.
There are individuals who can use the vision they have left and complete the daily tasks without having to use any of the alternative methods. A person will have a lot of help from a low vision specialist.
People with low vision should know that there is a certain training that will help them use available technical aids.
Rehabilitation instruments are mainly meant for those people who do not live with anyone else, rely only on themselves and their own mobility and are the least depressed.
Suicide is a common problem among people who are going blind. People diagnosed with eventual blindness have a huge risk of suicide. If that is the case, vision specialists will need the help of mental health professionals in order to treat these patients. Types of Help Available
Apart from medical help, patients need to know that the best way to help themselves or ones who are suffering from low vision is information. Getting to know as much as it is possible about the associated problems and available treatments is essential. Patients are due to talk to doctors and sanitary personnel in order to find out as much as they can. After these two sources, people should consider administration because it can provide some help as well. In the end, patients might consider including those which facilitate personal rehabilitation, work and social integration. The entire family of the person who is diagnosed with low vision should learn as much as possible in order to be able to help in every possible way.
Optical aids are a possibility for those who suffer from low vision. With the use of proper low vision devices, people with low vision will be able to function a lot better. Those diagnosed with low vision should understand that they are not alone and that there are a lot of organizations, both governmental and private, which exist and are there to help people with impaired vision.
There are ways a person can better his or her far sight and that is by working with static objects such as TV, theater, cinema or seeing the number of the bus. Similarly, there are ways a person can better near sight. Working closer to the objects is the way to achieve that and a person can reach the goal by reading or writing. In order to improve sensitivity to contrast a person should use special optical filters or grid paper, book stands and magnified games.
According to certain data, in the year 2002 there were more than 161 million individuals who were confirmed visual impairment. More than half of them had low vision and approximately one-fifth was blind.
There was a certain study which included 1,000 people with visual acuity higher than 0.02 decimal who used visual aids. Almost 50% of the people were very satisfied with their visual aids, 44% were satisfied, some 5% were not that satisfied and 3% were not satisfied at all.
The risk of development of visual impairment is increasing. However, it still remains that older people are more prone to such medical issue. It is important that people who experience any problems with their vision go immediately to the eye specialist in order to treat the problem as soon as possible.
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