That's definitely a sentiment that holds true when it comes to our eyesight. The loss of vision, whether sudden or slow, is absolutely devastating, especially when it is permanent.
The causes can range from diabetes to on-the-job injuries. Every day, an estimated 2,000 people require medical treatment for workplace injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
There are many eye diseases you can avoid simply by living a healthy, thoughtful life. Some injuries occur in accidents that could be prevented with a little forethought. Other eye issues are the result of bad genes; although there are things you can do to minimize that impact.
Accidents & Infections
Every year, a half a million people injure their eyes. Farm chemicals are a leading cause of injury, as are the lack of safety eyewear or the correct type of eye protection such as safety goggles or face shields. Then there are the incidences that happen among the younger generations. Children must be taught the correct way of handling bb guns, arrows, and other sharp objects – never to point those objects at a person’s face.
Injuries can also lead to infections, which can be even more dangerous than sharp toys. There exists a condition called sympathetic ophthalmia, which means a single eye injury can cause total blindness. This condition can be prevented by prompt medical attention whether someone is injured while at work or while at play.
Cataracts
Though accidents are typically rapid-onset affairs, cataracts come on slowly enough that the patient may not realize it for years. It is the gradual clouding of the eye lens. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness throughout the world, and 22 million Americans suffer from it. Very common in older people.
Cataracts are clumps of protein in the eye that prevent a clear image sent to the brain by the retina, sort of the movie screen that send neural impulses to create pictures in the brain. Cataracts are similar to having smeary fingerprints on the lens such that the transmitted picture is blurred.
Diabetes and glaucoma are both linked to cataracts. Long and repeated sun exposure to UV rays without sun protection can cause cataracts. Symptoms include trouble with night vision, faded colors, blurry vision, glare, and double vision.
Risks factors for cataracts are too much sun exposure, heavy drinking, high blood pressure, eye trauma, aging, diabetes, glaucoma, family history and smoking.
Glaucoma
Once again, this is a disease of the optic nerve, the main vision nerve to the brain. Glaucoma starts with a pattern of subtle vision loss on the sides. Typically, there are no obvious signs of vision loss. With an increase in eyeball pressure, the risk of glaucoma rises.
Glaucoma usually involves blockage of the drainage, or outflow, ducts for eyeball fluids. This increases fluid pressure in the eyeball, which increases pressure on the delicate optic nerve, damaging it. Unfortunately, there is no cure for glaucoma.
At-risk populations include African Americans 40-years old or older, everyone else over 60 years of age, those with family history of the disease and Hispanic Americans. Nearsightedness and farsightedness are also risk factors for glaucoma, as are a history of high eyeball pressure, or an injury to the eye.
Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in African Americans. They have three times the rate of glaucoma than whites and suffer blindness four times more frequently. And African Americans between the ages of 45 and 65 years of age have a risk of blindness 15 times than that of whites. Which is why early detection is so important, especially for minorities.
Diabetic Retinopathy
In people living with diabetes for more than five years, this disease may strike both type 1 and type 2 sufferers, and mild symptoms to total blindness is a possibility. Blood vessels diseased by diabetes leak blood and proteins into the retina. There are also tiny aneurysms of these vessels.
Advanced diabetic retinopathy is characterized by abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina, these vessels are brittle and bleed easily, growing in the center of the eye. This is caused by high blood sugar levels in the blood and could lead to retinal scarring and detachment.
The longer you live with diabetes, the higher your risk of diabetic retinopathy -- so keeping your blood sugar under control may stave off this potentially blinding disease. Symptoms often don’t show up until this disease is in an advanced state and involve dark spots in your vision in both eyes, inability to distinguish colors, difficulty seeing at night, blurred vision and loss of vision.
Macular Degeneration
The light-sensitive macula is located in the center of the retina, remember that screen at the back of your eyeball that sends visions to the brain. When macular cells are damaged or destroyed, center vision is affected.
Primarily associated with aging but the risk factors that may make one vulnerable to macular degeneration is race -- whites tend to be more susceptible -- hereditary, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, high blood pressure, being female, smoking and lack of nutrition.
Symptoms include: blind spots; straight lines look bent or crooked and objects can be a different shape and color from one eye to the other; blurred center vision for close-up and distance viewing. Typically, this happens to one eye and the brain subconsciously compensates by using the “good” eye. Until, that is, the good eye also starts to go bad.
Retinitis Pigmentosa
This is a hereditary disease that involves the degeneration of the retina and choroid, which is a layer of blood vessels between the outer firm layer of the eyeball and the retina. This disease typically involves the abnormal development of excess pigment. If only one eye is affected, there is a high probability that the other will also soon be affected.
The common pattern of development of this disease is that a preteen child may have a bit of difficulty seeing at night. Their field of vision may narrow but could be so gradual as to be practically unnoticed until the peripheral vision has proceeded to tunnel vision. Typically, total blindness follows and could occur as early as a person’s 40s. There is no known treatment.
Now that you know some of the conditions that can cause blindness, you can do something about it. Many of these debilitating conditions are tied to lifestyle factors that, with a little determination, you can avoid. Doctors recommend you get your eyes checked once a year, unless you are at risk for an eye disease and require an exam more often.