What is it?

Low vision is vision loss that is not corrected with glasses, contacts or surgery. It differs from blindness as limited sight remains. Low vision includes blind spots, poor night vision and problems with glare to an almost complete vision loss. Low vision is divided into partially sighted which means that the patient has visual acuity between 20/70 and 20/200 with conventional prescription lenses. Legally blind, is the other category, meaning that the patient has visual acuity no better than 20/200 with conventional correction and/or a restricted field of vision less than 20 degrees wide. Adults are at greater risk of developing low vision. The most common types of vision loss are loss of central vision, loss of peripheral vision, night blindness, blurred vision or hazy vision. Causes for low vision are many and may include macular degeneration, diabetes, glaucoma, cancer, and inherited diseases like retinitis pigmentosa. Blindness is the inability to see anything, including light.