The celebration of World Sight Day seeks to focus attention on blindness and visually impaired people around the world.
Dr. Salvà, specialist in Ophthalmology and medical director of Oftalmedic Salvà, explains the main pathologies that can cause a serious deterioration in the patient’s vision and how to prevent them from worsening over the years, even causing blindness. On the other hand, he stresses the need to make the population aware of the importance of regular check-ups to diagnose certain diseases in their early stages, which, if not detected early, can compromise their prognosis.
How many people in the world suffer from blindness or visual impairment?
Currently, according to WHO data:
- 285 million people in the world are visually impaired.
- 39 million are blind.
- 246 million have experienced vision loss.
- In Spain, 77.6% of the population has a visual impairment.
What are the most common causes of visual impairment?
The main causes of blindness in the world are:
- Uncorrected refractive defects (myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism) These are alterations that prevent the eye from projecting images correctly onto the retina. In a normal eye, the images that reach the retina are focused directly on it, obtaining a perfect vision. On the contrary, when the images converge on a point outside the retina, an altered perception of the images is produced and, consequently, the vision becomes blurred. When this happens, the eye presents a refractive error.
- Untreated cataracts This is a total or partial opacity of the crystalline lens, generally associated with age, which prevents light from passing clearly to the retina and, consequently, produces a progressive deterioration in the quality of vision of those who suffer from it.
- Glaucoma Glaucoma, also known as silent blindness, is a disease that slowly, progressively and irreversibly damages the optic nerve. As a consequence of the damage caused to the nerve fibers of the retina, responsible for transmitting information from the eye to the brain, a more mild or more severe loss of vision occurs depending on the degree of degeneration of the optic nerve.
Could blindness be avoided with early diagnosis? Why are regular check-ups important?
In most cases, yes. In fact, World Sight Day is very important for us because we can focus social attention on blindness and visual impairment, and make everyone aware of the importance of prevention in terms of eye health.
Early detection of an ocular pathology is a determining factor in its treatment. According to the WHO, 80% of cases of visual impairment could have been avoided or can be cured. For this reason, specialists recommend regular ophthalmological check-ups. When it comes to visual health, prevention is always the best option and can avoid irreversible complications.
How can we identify if our child does not see well?
There are some symptoms that can be associated with visual problems in children, and to which parents and teachers should be very attentive:
- He/she has difficulties in reading or schoolwork.
- Recurrent headache or eye irritation when reading or writing, sometimes accompanied by tearing or eye watering.
- Repeatedly stumbles and misjudges distances.
- Suffers from photophobia (sensitivity to light).
- He frowns or turns his head to fix his eyes.
- Looks too close to books, screens, etc.
- Rubs his eyes a lot.
It is very important to prevent children from having an undiagnosed vision problem. When we are born our eyes are immature, and until 7 or 8 years old they are in continuous development. If there is any abnormality it should be detected and corrected before this age to avoid deficiencies in adulthood.
The symptoms mentioned above can warn us, but they are not always easy to perceive. For this reason, the specialists in Pediatric Ophthalmology at Oftalmedic Salvà recommend anticipating these signs and performing routine check-ups on children from their first years of life, in order to rule out eye problems and, if they are found, to treat them in time. This will avoid consequences such as poor visual development, impediments to personal learning or poor school performance.
What treatments can help with vision loss?
To control nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, optical correction, that is, the use of glasses or contact lenses, can be used. Another option is refractive surgery, which eliminates the problem at its source through laser techniques or the implantation of intraocular lenses.
In the case of cataracts, the only definitive treatment to effectively resolve them is surgery, which consists of replacing the crystalline lens that has become opaque over the years (cataract) with an intraocular lens that restores correct vision to the patient.
Glaucoma, on the other hand, does not have a curative treatment. That is to say, its progress can be halted, but the damage already caused to the optic nerve cannot be cured. Therefore, glaucoma treatment will be aimed at reducing intraocular pressure and thus preventing the deterioration of the optic nerve from progressing.