• Question: What causes blindness

    Asked by 527nenp43 to Sonia, Mossy, Maureen on 16 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Maureen

      Maureen answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      I’m sure Sonia will have an excellent answer for this one. Numerically, the leading causes of blindness and low vision are age-related eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. There are other causes that can start at birth, when someone is still a child, or when someone is in their teens.

    • Photo: Sonia Lenehan

      Sonia Lenehan answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      Exactly as Maureen said! In numbers, age-related diseases are the leading causes of visual impairment and blindness. Other causes are genetic mutations which cause the genes to give out wrong instructions. An example of a genetic disorder that occurs from birth and is associated with vision problems is Albinism. Another example is aniridia which is caused by the PAX6 gene not working correctly! So there are lots of causes and researchers are working to find them all and to hopefully someday cure or prevent blindness!

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