Causes of Blindness and Low Vision

Dear Readers,

As we celebrate Blindness Awareness month, let us not forget to keep the blind in mind. I would like all of you to perform this simple exercise, sit down in a quiet area and close your eyes for one minute. As you look behind your closed eyelids, imagine what it would be like if the darkness you see is all you have.{{more}} Try to get into the kind of mindset and lifestyle a blind person must cope with in order to survive. While you are doing this, also bear in mind that every five (5) seconds someone somewhere in the world has gone blind and every sixty (60) minutes a child somewhere in the world goes blind.

According to the WHO, over 40 million people are blind worldwide. An additional 150 million have low vision, while nearly 2 million people are vision-impaired due to uncorrected refractive errors.

Every single year, the number of totally blind increases by about 2-3 million and 75% of blindness is treatable or preventable at least. Further, WHO estimates show us that over 90% of the blind people live in the poorest developing countries of the world. If there is no proper intervention, the number of blind will increase to nearly 100 million by the year 2020. Simple restoration of sight and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost effective interventions in health care.

The major causes of blindness and low vision are:

1) Cataracts
2) Glaucoma
3) Diabetic Eye Disease
4) Refractive Errors
5) Trauma

Eye infections and bumps and lumps around the eye come at a much lower scale and that is why we have not mentioned them here.

I would like to give you 10 simple ways to keep your eyes healthy and free from disease:

1. Eat fruits and vegetables.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Get an eye exam, no matter your age.
4. Protect your eyes from the harmful UV Rays of the sun.
5. Exercise regularly.
6. Wash your hand frequently and try not to rub your eyes.
7. Use computers cautiously – try to avoid eyestrain.
8. Avoid smoking.
9. Manage chronic diseases, such as Diabetes and Hypertension, and check your doctor on a regular basis.Also show your doctor the medication you use.
10. Use eye protection.

If you do today what others don’t, you will have tomorrow what others won’t.

Have a great week.

Dr Kenneth Onu is a resident Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Beachmont Eye Institute/Eyes R Us Send questions to: Beachmont@gmail.com
Tel: 784 456-1210