Vision is one of the important senses of the human body. It helps to see the world around us, to know it, to learn new things for oneself, and also to change it according to one’s desire and according to one’s needs. If a person is deprived of this opportunity, he becomes a prisoner of his own body: he does not see the images and does not perceive them as expected. A person with poor vision or completely deprived of it is limited both in personal and professional spheres of activity. Also, he cannot engage in a certain sport and acquire a profession associated with increased attention.
The worst thing is when such a deviation is diagnosed in a small child. Depending on the degree of violation, it will be harder for him to know the world around him, learn and develop.
Visual impairment in an adult brings with it many unpleasant moments, namely: wearing glasses; eye diseases; distortion of image perception. In addition, in this state it is impossible to write and read normally. To date, the main cause of the phenomenon is considered a computer lifestyle. However, there are plenty of other reasons that contribute to vision loss. To a greater extent, these are acquired diseases and pathological conditions of the body.
Etiology of low vision
Poor vision is a general term for a person’s condition where deterioration occurs, leading to a misperception of the shape of an object and an estimate of its distance. With such a violation, a person sees objects indistinctly, sharpness decreases, the contours blur and become cloudy. It is difficult for a patient in this condition to read inscriptions, numbers and various designations. With a strong deterioration in vision, difficulties appear during movement. In addition, it is difficult for a person to use household items familiar to many people.
Accordingly, poor visibility has a negative impact on everyday life – with an increase in the degree of visual impairment, the patient’s ordinary life also worsens.
In the course of treatment, it is necessary to first establish the exact cause of this condition: to diagnose a disease that affects visual impairment. After that, you should choose effective manipulations that help eliminate pathologies that reduce the visibility of the outside world.
The reasons that cause this condition are different, they are the following factors:
- Congenital pathologies of the organs of vision: this can happen due to a genetic predisposition or be provoked by a violation of the intrauterine development of the fetus.
- Acquired causes of deterioration of the organs of vision: for example, after an eye disease, which can be infectious.
- Traumatic damage to the eye, brain or other organs located nearby: the situation can happen with a strong concussion of the brain, after blows to the head, falls, damage by foreign objects.
- Damage to the organs of vision due to external influences (radiation, thermal, chemical): these are eye burns by fire, chemicals and flammable liquids.
- Visual impairment after diseases of the internal organs, also with high blood pressure and diabetes.
- External factors: small print in the book; reading in a lying position, transport and in poor lighting; long work at the computer; games on an electronic device.
- Age of a person: in the elderly, the risk of ocular pathologies, in which vision deteriorates, is increased. Many elderly people suffer from presbyopia (senile farsightedness). This explains the fact that most of them are well oriented on the street, but read, watch TV with glasses.
But it is worth noting that the classification of visual impairment is quite large, because the causes of such a condition can be interrelated (sometimes one problem appears as a result of another).
In some situations, there are signs of rapid loss of vision. Such symptoms indicate dangerous damage, that is, poisoning of the body. In this case, a person can not only become completely blind, but there is a high risk of death. If blindness begins too quickly, literally “in front of our eyes”, it is urgent to call an ambulance.
With such a violation, the patient begins to complain that he cannot see the object clearly. His boundaries are blurred and he is unable to focus his eyes. Basically, this indicates the presence of a certain problem with the formation of two foci – such a pathology is called astigmatism. It is diagnosed quite often with various visual impairments (it happens with farsightedness and myopia).
A person cannot focus on a single image, because the optical focus is formed in front of the retina, and not on it (the image is not clear, but blurry). Because of this, vision is greatly impaired.
To date, the main reason for the decline in vision among the younger generation can be called a computer, because they use it too often. Previously, this was affected by the flickering of the monitor screen, but now the problem appears after overworking the eyes. Children and adolescents are at risk. Gradually, blindness occurs, as a person makes monotonous movements, focuses his eyes on the screen, slows down blinking, which provokes the drying of the mucous membrane.
Phenomenon classification
Today, blindness is a rather serious problem, because it is not limited only to poor visibility of the surrounding world, but also has a negative impact on the internal organs of a person. For example, severe eyestrain can cause headaches, spasms of blood vessels in the brain, dizziness, fainting spells, and even fainting. In addition, there are other serious deviations and pathologies. If vision begins to decline, you should immediately consult a doctor in order to identify the causes of what is happening in time and begin effective treatment. Thus, the eye not only begins to see normally, but the pathologies that have arisen are also eliminated.
Such violations have different classifications in different countries of the world. But the basis is the division according to the degree of visual acuity of the eye that sees better, for example:
- almost the norm 20/30 – 20/60;
- moderate violation 20/70 – 20/160;
- severe form 20/200 – 20/400;
- deep loss 20/500 – 20/1000;
- almost blindness more than 20/1000;
- blindness – the eye does not react to a light source.
In addition, peripheral vision should also be taken into account.
The type of this pathology can influence the problem of determining the cause that caused this condition, because several factors can be combined at once, for example, a person has a birth defect (astigmatism), traumatic injuries that affected visual acuity, various eye pathologies. To find out the true cause of vision loss, the patient must undergo a complete examination and take tests.
Most often, people are diagnosed with ametropia of the eyes: this includes myopia and hyperopia. A large number of them suffer from different forms and degrees of development of such a pathology. Only a small percentage of the population sees perfectly. Even a small deviation from the norm, up to 1, does not need to be corrected. In other words, such a person should not wear glasses, because amblyopia, “lazy eye syndrome”, may develop. This term means that small deviations in visual acuity are compensated for by glasses or lenses. Because of this, the eye “relaxes” and does not function at 100% (a person sees worse and worse).
In addition to the most common types of visual impairment, many different diseases are added. In some cases, temporary blindness may occur after an injury. For example, after a faint, a person first of all begins to hear what is happening around, and then to see pictures. With some pathologies, visual acuity may worsen at night, when the outlines of objects are not so clearly visible.
It is necessary to isolate the loss of vision that occurs with diabetes mellitus. This condition is also called diabetic retinopathy. In this case, the visibility of the surrounding world decreases gradually, and after a while the person becomes completely blind. Therefore, timely diagnosis and treatment of diabetes is very important. At risk are people who are overweight and have “bad” heredity (even if they see well today).
In some people, rapid blindness occurs due to various diseases. For example, these are: cataract; clouding of the lens of the eye; glaucoma.
Glaucoma is considered an incurable pathology, therefore, because of it, vision deteriorates significantly. It cannot be completely eliminated, however, with the help of special medications, development can be slowed down a little. To date, successful surgical interventions are being carried out, during which an artificial lens is inserted. Thus, the person begins to see again.
Since we live in a high-tech world in which computers play an important role, doctors often diagnose computer syndrome in people. At the first stages of development, there is a strong drying of the mucous membrane of the eye. This condition can be prevented by using special eye drops. This happens due to the special radiation of a computer monitor and slow blinking. The eye does not get enough moisture and suffers greatly. A person begins to feel pain, pain and “sand” in the eyes.
If everyday life is connected with a computer, a person sits at a monitor both at work and at home, then over time, vision involuntarily begins to deteriorate – the eyes are subjected to too much stress.
However, this can be prevented if you correctly distribute the time spent at the computer: give your eyes a rest more often, use special drops and do exercises.
Prevention of the condition
It is necessary for every person to carry out prophylaxis, regardless of whether blindness begins at the moment or not. It must be understood that not every cause of poor vision can be eliminated with the help of medications or other special techniques. Therefore, doctors recommend the following: control blood sugar and carbohydrate metabolism; monitor cholesterol and blood pressure (this will help reduce the risk of stroke).
People over the age of forty should undergo an annual examination by an ophthalmologist. So it is possible to detect the development of cataracts and other eye diseases in the early stages of development.