7 - All-seeing Eye
Summary
In this final chapter I will try to deal with some aspects of the world-wide problem of visual impairment. In the west we have an ageing population and many eye problems are associated with old age. In the developing world, the population is ever increasing, and there are just too many people for the resources available. What should be done, what is being done, what isn't being done and what can't be done?
Finally I will address the most difficult part of this book, an attempt to look into the future and at the advances that might be made to combat the rising tide of visual problems. What will the future hold for all of us?
World blindness
No one knows how many blind and severely visually impaired people there are in the world, but without doubt it is a very large number. Conservative estimates from World Health Organization sources suggest figures of around 50 million, which is not much less than the whole population of the UK.
What are the main causes of blindness? (Figure 7.1)
The top three are:
Cataract 20.0 million
Glaucoma 8.0 million
Trachoma 7.5 million
These are huge numbers in anyone's terms, but blindness and visual impairment are on the increase throughout the world and indeed these figures may well be very conservative. Much depends on the definition of blindness, and if we include those with a severe visual disability, a figure of 200 million would not be absurd and that equates to the population of western Europe or the USA. Increase in visual impairment is a problem shared by both the developed and the developing worlds. However, although the problem may be shared, the causes are different.
Failed eyes
To those involved in eye care, loss of sight and blindness are a failure. Why are there failures? Can we generalize? If we do, we might end up with the following list:
Failure because, as yet, there is no cure for the eye disease. The eye doctors can neither reverse the eye disease nor can they stop it. The doctor can only hope that science and medical advances can come up with something in the future, hopefully the near future. Diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and most ARMD are examples (see chapter 4 for more on these diseases).
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- The Eye BookEyes and Eye Problems Explained, pp. 167 - 186Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2000