Types of Blindness

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Santa Barbara Mission


Diabetic Retinopathy: This is caused by the disease diabetes which can strike both children and adults. What happens is that the blood vessels or tubes in the back of the eye break and blood floods into or damages parts of the eye that help a person see. Sometimes surgery or medicines can help a person with diabetic retinopathy and also with the disease diabetes.	Macular Degeneration: This disease is one of the leading causes of blindness among older people and can't be cured as of yet. With this disease, the middle of the back of the eye called the macula is diseased.

Retinitis Pigmentosa: This is a disease that usually begins when a person is young and gets worse as they get older, often leaving them blind as adults. In the beginning, the person with retinitis pigmentosa may have trouble seeing at night. Later their "field of vision" or the amount they can see in each eye gets less and less. Scientists are not sure exactly how it forms, but at this time there is no cure.	Glaucoma: Glaucoma generally affects older people. This happens when fluids in the eye build up and cause too much pressure in the eye, damaging important nerves, etc.. To know what a person feels like with glaucoma, think of how your eyes feel after coming out of a swimming pool with a lot of chlorine in it. (This does not cause glaucoma, but makes the eyes feel as a person does with glaucoma).

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