What is Blindness?

Blindness refers to the complete partial loss of vision, or the inability to see anything. Partial blindness, for example, may involve the ability to see blurry shapes or some light, whereas complete blindness refers to the total loss of vision and no ability to see anything, which would also include the ability to see light. Blindness can occur in one eye (unilateral blindness) or both eyes (bilateral blindness). It is diagnosed by testing the visual acuity of each individual eye.

Causes of Blindness

Causes of blindness can be infectious, or caused by injury, or symptoms of other conditions. There are also various risk factors which increase the likelihood of blindness occurring. The causes of blindness are listed as follows:

• Glaucoma
• Macular degeneration
• Traumatic injury
• Trachoma
• Leprosy
• Herpes
• Vitamin A deficiency
• Retinopathy of prematurity
• Stroke
• Infectious diseases of the cornea or retina
• Ocular inflammatory disease
• Retinitis pignemtosa
• Chemical poisoning

In addition to these common causes of blindness, there are certain risk factors which heighten the risk that blindness may occur. These are:

• Poor prenatal care
• Premature birth
• Age
• Poor nutrition
• Poor hygiene
• Family history of blindness
• Smoking
• Cardiovascular disease

Symptoms of Blindness

The common symptom of blindness is some difficulty experienced in seeing. The ability to cope with the loss of vision may depend on when in life the vision loss has occurred, for example, if one loses the ability to see later in life it may be difficult to adjust to the non-seeing world whereas if somebody is born blind the adjustment for the individual is not required. The sudden loss also worsens the ability to adjust as opposed to gradual loss of vision over time. Depending on the cause of blindness, other symptoms may differ.

If blindness is caused by a cataract, the pupil may appear white instead of black. In blindness which is a result of an infection of the cornea (the film covering the eyeball), a grey or whitish film may cover the eye, making it difficult to see through to the coloured part of the eye (the iris). The following are some other common signs and symptoms of blindness:

• Discomfort in the eyes
• Awareness of the eyes
• Foreign body sensation
• Pain in the eyes
• Discharge coming from the eyes

Prevention of Blindness

Depending on the cause of blindness, it is preventable in many cases. Blindness, when caused by traumatic injury, can usually be prevented by the use of proper eye protection. Here are some other tactics of prevention based on the concerned cause:

Blindness caused by nutritional deficiency can usually be prevented through a balanced and healthy diet.
When caused by glaucoma, it is often possible to prevent blindness when the glaucoma is detected early and appropriately treated.

Another common cause is infectious diseases, in which case public health measures play a part in preventing the spread of the disease and thereby preventing the contraction of the symptom of blindness.
Blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy can often be prevented by avoiding smoking, controlling blood sugar levels through diet and other measures, exercise, and avoiding obesity.

Treatment of Blindness

Similar to the symptoms and prevention, the treatment of blindness also depends upon the causes. The following are the measures of treatment based on the different causes:

• Often merely prescribing glasses can correct visual impairment or blindness.
• If blindness is caused by nutritional causes, then changes in the diet can alleviate it.
• In case of blindness caused by cataract, cataract surgery should be able to repair the impairment caused.
• Inflammatory or infectious blindness can be cured through medication.
• If caused by corneal scarring in a traumatic injury, a corneal transplant can correct the defect.

Health Insurance Plans for Blindness

There are various health insurance plans in the country offered by a variety of insurance providers that would offer cover for blindness. For example, Max Life Smart Plan by Max Life Insurance which includes Critical Illness Benefit which covers everything from hospital bills to medical care, as well as the Swavlamban Health Insurance plan offered by ICICI Lombard Insurance. Both these insurers offer insurance for the critical illness of blindness which is advisable to purchase in order to be at ease at all times.