HEALTH - DISEASES - VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

Health - Diseases

Visual Impairment

Characteristics:

Speciality : Ophthalmology

ICD - 10 : H54.0 , H54.1 , H54.4
ICD - 9 - CM : 369
Diseases DB : 28256
MedilinePlus : 003040
MeSH : D001766

Description :

Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment or vision loss, is a decreased ability to see to a degree that causes problems not fixable by usual means, such as glasses. Some also include those who have a decreased ability to see because they do not have access to glasses or contact lenses. Visual impairment is often defined as a best corrected visual acuity of worse than either 20/40 or 20/60. The term blindnessis used for complete or nearly complete vision loss. Visual impairment may cause people difficulties with normal daily activities such as driving, reading, socializing, and walking.

The most common causes of visual impairment globally are uncorrected refractive errors (43%), cataracts (33%), and glaucoma (2%).] Refractive errors include near sighted, far sighted, presbyopia, and astigmatism. Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness. Other disorders that may cause visual problems include age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, corneal clouding, childhood blindness, and a number of infections. Visual impairment can also be caused by problems in the brain due to stroke, prematurity, or trauma among others. These cases are known as cortical visual impairment. Screening for vision problems in children may improve future vision and educational achievement. Screening adults may also be beneficial. Diagnosis is by an eye exam.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of visual impairment is either preventable or curable with treatment. This includes cataracts, the infections river blindness and trachoma, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, uncorrected refractive errors, and some cases of childhood blindness. Many people with significant visual impairment benefit from vision rehabilitation, changes in their environmental, and assistive devices.

As of 2012 there were 285 million people who were visually impaired of which 246 million had low vision and 39 million were blind. The majorities of people with poor vision is in the developing world and are over the age of 50 years. Rates of visual impairment have decreased since the 1990s. Visual impairments have considerable economic costs both directly due to the cost of treatment and indirectly due to decreased ability to work.

Diagnosis :

It is critical that all people be examined by someone specializing in low vision care prior to other rehabilitation training to rule out potential medical or surgical correction for the problem and to establish a careful baseline refraction and prescription of both normal and low vision glasses and optical aids. Only a doctor is qualified to evaluate visual functioning of a compromised visual system effectively.

The American Medical Association provide an approach to evaluating visual loss as it affects an individual's ability to perform activities of daily living.

Philatelic Issues

2016 – Uruguay – Unique Miniature Sheet, from Blind Congress Series

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: April 20th, 2016
Printed: 10.000 Copies
Type: Unique Miniature Sheet from Series
Value:UYP 20

Stamp: Rectangular
Size: 120 mm. x 70 mm.
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated