Seeing ability is one of the most important abilities in a person’s life. However, some people are born with sight problems and others develop the same in the course of their lives. Blindness and visual impairment have, thus, been a great challenge to human beings. This paper analyses the problem of blindness and highlights some preventive measures to this problem.
Blindness has a variety of causes that apply to both adults and children. Vision-related problems may develop long before the birth of a baby, whereby, the formation of the eye is incomplete or some parts do not function well. For instance, the eye may be, seemingly, normal but the coordination of the eye with the brain may be problematic leading to partial or total blindness.
This occurrence is mostly due to inheritance of blindness or visual problems (Weber 1). An accident to the eye can potentially interfere with the functioning of the eye causing blindness. This is due to the fact that accidents can damage the structure of the functional parts of the eye.
Some specific diseases can also cause a person to lose his/her sight. Examples of these diseases include diabetes, whose effect is experienced over time, and cataracts. Other diseases that affect visual ability include macular degeneration which is an incurable disease affecting the elderly, retinitis pigmentosa, which worsens with age making its victims blind in their adult life and glaucoma in which eye fluids accumulate in the eye and cause pressure on other parts of the eye damaging them (“Major Causes of Blindness” 1).
The conditions stated above can either be treated or improved by surgery. Cataracts are corrected by replacing the faulty lens with an artificial lens, and macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can be treated by laser surgery. Other preventive measures for occurrence of blindness include glasses for cataracts and eye drops for glaucoma. Glaucoma has no treatment and thus diagnosis and administering of eye drops or carrying out of surgery should be done before the occurrence of blindness (Hered 1).
As stated above early diagnosis of visual problems is very instrumental in the prevention of blindness. Despite the fact that glaucoma is incurable, if it is diagnosed early enough, before vision loss, the blinding effects it has can be controlled. Diabetic retinopathy can be prevented by the control of the levels of blood sugar, regular follow up of blood-sugar levels, control of blood pressure and control of the levels of cholesterol (Borges 1).
Cataracts can be delayed by wearing of brimmed hats and sunglasses. There is also need to take good care of eyes by protecting them from injury. Thus people playing certain sports should make sure they protect their eyes (Dahl 1) from being injured. An example of such sports is hockey.
Although blind people have been able to engage in a variety of activities, blindness still remains a challenge to human beings. Some of the countermeasures used to mitigate the effects of blindness include special treatment of blind people and the use of guide dogs by blind people.
Considering the challenges faced by the blind, people should ensure that they are aware of the causes of blindness and that they take the appropriate precautionary measures to avoid blindness. Medical practitioners should also make sure that they advise diabetic patients accordingly to avoid the occurrence of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy.
Works Cited
Borges, J. “Blindness.” 2009. Web.
Dahl, A. “Blindness.” 1996. Web.
Hered, R. “Blindness.” 1995. Web.
National Federation of the Blind. “Major Causes of Blindness.” 1995. Web.
Weber, W. “Leading Causes of Blindness.” 2008. Web.