There are
many causes of blindness. Sometimes blindness can be cured or vision improved
with medicines, surgery, and special equipment. Below is a list of different
causes of blindness.
Accidents
One basic
cause of blindness can be accidents that injure the eye. Sometimes the eye can
be saved and sometimes not with medicines, surgery, etc.. It is very important
to do the following to preserve good eyesight:
Do not
throw objects in people's faces or at their heads.
Be very careful when
using sharp objects such as scissors and knives and point them away from your
face.
Wear goggles or protective
glasses when asked to such as when working with chemicals, etc..
Cataracts
Cataracts are formed
in the lens of the eye which is behind the black dot (pupil) in the middle of
the eye. As people get older, the lens of the eye gets cloudy. When people have
cataracts it is as if they are looking through a fog. As the cataracts get worse,
the fog gets thicker. Although older people more often get cataracts, sometimes
kids can have them as well. Your grandparents may get cataracts.
Cataracts can be removed
by taking out the lens of the eye with surgery and having an artificial lens
put in. People can have their vision return to normal after this surgery.
Macular Degeneration
This disease is one
of the leading causes of blindness among older people and can't be cured as
of yet. With this disease, the middle of the back of the eye called the macula
is diseased.
To understand what a
person with macular degeneration sees, make your hands into fists and put your
fists right up in front of each eye. Notice that you can see around the fists,
but not directly in front of you. People with macular degeneration cannot read
or recognize people, but can sometimes move around without as much assistance
because the center of the back of the eye is in charge of a person seeing small
details that lets them read and recognize people.
Retinitis Pigmentosa
This is a disease that
usually begins when a person is young and gets worse as they get older, often
leaving them blind as adults. In the beginning, the person with retinitis pigmentosa
may have trouble seeing at night. Later their "field of vision" or
the amount they can see in each eye gets less and less. Scientists are not sure
exactly how it forms, but at this time there is no cure.
To under stand what
a person with retinitis pigmentosa may see, roll up a piece of paper and look
through the tube you have formed with that paper roll. As the disease gets worse,
it is as if the paper roll gets more tightly rolled and the opening gets smaller.
Diabetic Retinopathy
This is caused by the
disease diabetes which can strike both children and adults. What happens is
that the blood vessels or tubes in the back of the eye break and blood floods
into or damages parts of the eye that help a person see. Sometimes surgery or
medicines can help a person with diabetic retinopathy and also with the disease
diabetes.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma generally affects
older people. This happens when fluids in the eye build up and cause too much
pressure in the eye, damaging important nerves, etc.. To know what a person
feels like with glaucoma, think of how your eyes feel after coming out of a
swimming pool with a lot of chlorine in it. (This does not cause glaucoma, but
makes the eyes feel as a person does with glaucoma)
This disease can be
prevented and eye doctors almost always check for glaucoma when a patient has
an eye exam. If the person who has glaucoma doesn't take the appropriate medicine
for the condition, they can lose their eyesight.
