To me, losing any one of our senses is a great pain and loss.

Without our sense of taste, even if the world’s most sumptuous delicacies are placed in front of you, you would not be able to enjoy them. Without our sense of hearing, music would be of no sense to us as we can't enjoy it. Imagine life without our sense of taste, touch and smell and of course, sight.

Blindness is the lack of form and visual light perception. A person who is blind has a high degree of vision loss. Only about 18% of blind people are totally blind - most can distinguish between light and dark.

So how does blindness affect people?
Imagine yourself not being able to see. You have to be extra dependent on your other senses. Simple tasks such as reading, watching television and even eating becomes a chore. Blindness can also cause difficulty with dressing, writing, shopping and going for a walk. The risk of physical and social isolation is greater for people who are blind as it can be difficult to get out and make new friends. Blindness can also be an expensive condition because of the cost of special equipment.

There are many causes as to why people become blind. Accidents and disease are often responsible for blindness, while some people are born blind or partially sighted. Common causes include cataract, macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Below, I shall elaborate further on the each of the 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 and point them away from your face
Wear goggles/protective glasses when asked to work with chemicals, fire ...

Cataracts

Cataracts are formed in the lens of the eye, located behind the pupil (as seen from previous posts). 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 cannot 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 recognise 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 recognise 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 understand 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.

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)

If a person who has glaucoma does not take the appropriate medicine for the condition, they can lose their eyesight.

However, Prevention is always better than cure.
Having an eye test at least every two years can help to detect problems that may need treatment before any permanent damage has been done.
It is important to wear protective eyewear in situations where accidental eye damage may occur, for example, at work, when playing sport or doing DIY.
Some conditions, such as glaucoma and cataracts, can be treated to help preserve vision.

♥Love, Nic.