Visual Impairment

The definition of vision impairment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says a visually impaired person’s eyesight cannot be corrected to a “normal level”.

What is visual impairment?

The definition of vision impairment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says a visually impaired person’s eyesight cannot be corrected to a “normal level”.

Diagnosis of visual impairment

Treatment of visual impairment

Does looking at a computer damage your eyes?

Nearsightedness and Farsightedness

Latest Visual Impairment News and Research

AI offers hope for enhanced cataract surgery in developing nations

While the adequate surgical treatment of cataract is guaranteed in high-income countries, the surgical results in the Global South are often inadequate.

15 Apr 2024

Does visual impairment influence mental disorders?

Whether visual impairment (VI) affects mental disorders in the older population.

31 Jan 2024

Preterm babies at higher risk of long-term neurodevelopmental issues, study finds

Children born moderately (32-33 weeks) or late preterm (34-36 weeks) have higher long-term risks of neurodevelopmental difficulties that can affect their behavior and ability to learn, finds a study of over one million children published by The BMJ today.

24 Jan 2024

Machine learning predicts the long-term future of shortsighted eyes

Machine learning has been found to predict well the outcomes of many health conditions. Now, researchers from Japan have found a way to predict whether people with severe shortsightedness will have good or bad vision in the future.

13 Dec 2023

EU funds the international "BEHIND-MS" consortium to tackle multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, affects more than 1 million people in Europe and an estimated 2.8 million worldwide.

7 Dec 2023

Study highlights lack of clinical research to address sight loss in working-age people

A new study has highlighted a lack of clinical research to address the leading causes of severe sight impairment (SSI) among the working-age UK population, which costs the UK economy an estimated £7.4bn annually.

2 Nov 2023

Researchers discover new mechanism in the progression of age-related macular degeneration

Research led by Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor, Ernest C. and Yvette C. Villere Chair for the Study of Retinal Degeneration, and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, suggests that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) decreases an essential fatty acid, preventing the formation of a class of protective molecules and reducing repair potential. The discovery may also open new therapeutic avenues for AMD.

12 Sep 2023

Ciliopathies: A new understanding of the role of the NSL complex

The non-specific lethal (NSL) complex is a chromatin-associated factor that has been shown to regulate the expression of thousands of genes in both fruit flies and mammals.

25 Aug 2023

Study examines the relationship between consumption of fatty acids and diabetic retinopathy

Researchers examined the relationship between dietary fatty acid (FA) intake and diabetic retinopathy (DR).

14 Aug 2023

Vision problems linked to increased risk of dementia

Losing the ability to see clearly, and losing the ability to think or remember clearly, are two of the most dreaded, and preventable, health issues associated with getting older.

1 Aug 2023

The role of diet in the management of retinal vein occlusion

Researchers investigate the potential impact of dietary habits on retinal vein occlusion.

27 Jul 2023

Mobile app uses AI to detect eye diseases

Two students on the Master's Degree in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) have developed a mobile app capable of detecting in a matter of seconds whether someone is suffering from glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or cataracts, three of the world's most common causes of vision loss and blindness.

18 Jul 2023

Determining the effect of estriol treatment on cerebral cortex in the preclinical model of MS

Treating a mouse model of multiple sclerosis with the pregnancy hormone estriol reversed the breakdown of myelin in the brain's cortex, a key region affected in multiple sclerosis, according to a new UCLA Health study.

16 Jun 2023

New book of tactile illustrations for visually impaired children

Children with visual impairment do not perceive the world in the same way as sighted people. As a result, they need specific educational tools, including children's books, that enhance their skills and senses.

6 Jun 2023

Eye drops to slow the progression of nearsightedness in kids could be on the horizon

The results of a new clinical trial suggest that the first drug therapy to slow the progression of nearsightedness in kids could be on the horizon.

1 Jun 2023

New small-molecule drugs show potential clinical utility in treating world’s leading causes of blindness

In a University of California, Irvine-led study, researchers have discovered small-molecule drugs with potential clinical utility in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

9 May 2023

FDA-approved drug keeps light-sensitive photoreceptors alive in lab models of LCA 10

A National Institutes of Health team has identified a compound already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that keeps light-sensitive photoreceptors alive in three models of Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA 10), an inherited retinal ciliopathy disease that often results in severe visual impairment or blindness in early childhood.

29 Mar 2023

OHSU researchers confirm first-ever nonhuman primate model of Usher syndrome

Those with Usher Syndrome -- the leading hereditary cause for simultaneous deafness and blindness, for which there is no treatment -- may have a new reason for hope now that researchers have confirmed the first-ever nonhuman primate model of their disease.

13 Feb 2023

Study reports two cases of ocular MPox in HIV-infected patients

Researchers review the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of ocular Mpox syndrome in men living with HIV infection.

7 Feb 2023

Researchers design contact lens prototype to prevent dry eye syndrome

A collaborative team from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation has developed a contact lens prototype that is specifically designed to prevent contact lens-induced dry eye (CLIDE).

30 Jan 2023