by Dr Pandula Siribaddana

Created on: June 10, 2010

Blindness is one of the most debilitating conditions worldwide and draws much attention as it constitutes of many causes that can be prevented, controlled or even cured before ending up in blindness. In most instances, lack of resources to treat these patients in third world countries would contribute immensely to the rather worrying statistics although the numbers in the developed world in relation to preventable causes have dropped significantly.

The causes for blindness can originate from birth, following infections or trauma, latter part in the life or even due to other illnesses in the body. As such, it is a condition that can affect all ages and sizes although many of the incidences are seen in the late middle age and in the elderly.

According to a study done by the WHO, among the eye disease that has the potential to give rise to blindness, cataract would be topping the list which will be followed by glaucoma and age related macular degeneration. Diabetic retinopathy and childhood blindness would also follow according to the same order and would give rise to a significant portion of the population who goes blind due to eye diseases.

Let us now see several of these causes and how it manifest and progress till it causes blindness in susceptible individuals.

Cataract

Cataract would occur predominantly in the elderly age group and would be characterized by forming of opacity in the lens substance. This can be removed through surgical techniques and an artificial lens can be implanted instead. Therefore, this is one of the causes for preventable blindness in adults which needs to be recognized early and initiate treatment.

Glaucoma

This condition would give rise to a building up of fluid pressure within the eye and excessive pressure can give rise to damages in the retina and in the optic nerve. Thus, progressively, it can lead to blindness and initial loss of sight would be confined to peripheral vision of the patient. As with cataract, glaucoma can also be controlled with medications and it can be contained without going on to cause permanent blindness.

Age-related macular degeneration

Macula is the area of the eye that is responsible for the central vision and with age there is a possibility of these cells dying due to various reasons. If this happens, the patients would notice the loosing of the central vision and later on, if it is not detected early and treated with laser techniques, it can progress much faster towards causing total blindness.

Diabetic retinopathy

This is another common cause for blindness and would develop exclusively in patients with diabetes and uncontrolled blood sugar levels. But, the development of this disease would be slow and long standing which emphasize the need for these patients to be screened frequently for the occurrence of diabetic eye disease as it can be contained to a large extent through treatment.

Congenital eye diseases

These disease conditions would be present from birth and would lead to causing blindness over time. Among these diseases, retinitis pigmentosa, optic nerve hypoplasia and several other syndromes would take the center stage.

The conditions listed here would represent only a fraction of the diseases that can lead to blindness unless proper treatment protocols are followed, and would repeatedly emphasize the fact that, ‘eye signs should not be neglected or allowed to heal by itself without excluding major disease conditions’.

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