A sight for sore eyes
Learn how to protect yourself against the growing problem of vision loss
Ask Americans to name the ailment they fear most and blindness ranks at the top, along with Alzheimer’s and cancer, according to a recent survey by the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University. And yet, each year, 50,000 Americans go blind, nearly half from eye diseases that are treatable or preventable.
What’s worse, the number of Americans who are either blind or visually impaired is expected to double by 2050, most of it driven by an aging population and the growing number of people with chronic conditions that can cause vision loss, such as diabetes, says James Jorkasky, executive director of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research.
The challenge for vision experts is to make Americans aware of the things they can do to protect their eyesight, including getting a regular eye exam. Only half of the estimated 61 million Americans at high risk of losing their eyesight had an eye exam in the past 12 months — partly due to a lack of insurance coverage for preventive eye care and glasses, noted a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report last fall, but also because many eye diseases don’t show symptoms in the early stages, so people don’t realize they have a problem.
Doctors, too, may need to step up their game. A new study in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology found that in one of four cases, trained eye professionals missed the early, more treatable signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) — an irreversible loss of vision that affects 14 million Americans.
But there is some good news for those already diagnosed with eye disease, including new treatments and cutting-edge research that could bring hope to millions in the near future. There are also simple changes everyone can do to greatly reduce their risk of eye disease. Here’s what you need to know: