blindness, partial or complete loss of sight. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating in systemic disorders (e.g., diabetes diabetes or diabetes mellitus (məlī`təs)
..... Click the link for more information. ) and by cataract cataract, in medicine, opacity of the lens of the eye, which impairs vision. In the young, cataracts are generally congenital or hereditary; later they are usually the result of degenerative changes brought on by aging or systemic disease ( diabetes ).
..... Click the link for more information. , glaucoma glaucoma (glôkō`mə)
..... Click the link for more information. , or retinal detachment. Blindness caused by infectious diseases, such as trachoma trachoma (trəkō`mə), infection of the mucous membrane of the eyelids caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis.
..... Click the link for more information. , and by dietary deficiencies is common in underdeveloped countries where medical care is inadequate. River blindness, caused by a parasitic worm transmitted by black flies, results in severe itching and disfiguring lesions. Infection of the eye area can destroy vision. An estimated 18 million people in Africa, Latin America, South America, and Yemen are infected with the parasite; 1 million of those infected are expected to become blind or severely impaired. Until recently, pesticides have been used to eradicate the flies. Two new drugs, ivermectin and amocarzine, have proved effective when used together. Most infectious diseases of the eye can be prevented or cured.

A major cause of congenital blindness in the United States, ophthalmia neonatorum, which is caused by gonorrhea organisms in the maternal birth canal, is now prevented by placing silver nitrate solution in all newborn infants' eyes. Retinitis pigmentosis, a hereditary and degenerative eye disease, affects 100,000 people in the United States. An early sign is night blindness which progresses to total blindness. Color blindness color blindness, visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some difficulty in color perception.
..... Click the link for more information. , an hereditary problem, is an inability to distinguish colors, most commonly red and green. Snow blindness is a temporary condition resulting from a burn of the cornea caused by the reflection of sunlight on snow. Night blindness results from a deficiency of vitamin A. See eye eye, organ of vision and light perception. In humans the eye is of the camera type, with an iris diaphragm and variable focusing, or accommodation. Other types of eye are the simple eye, found in many invertebrates, and the compound eye, found in insects and many
..... Click the link for more information. .

blindness

Inability to see with one or both eyes. Transient blindness (blackout) can result from vertical acceleration causing high gravitational forces, glomerulonephritis (a kidney disease), or a clot in a blood vessel of the eye. Continuing blindness may arise from injuries or diseases of the eye (e.g., cataract, glaucoma), including the retina, the optic nerve, or the brain's visual centres. Many infectious, noninfectious, and parasitic systemic diseases can cause blindness. Sexually transmitted diseases and rubella in pregnant women can cause blindness in their infants. See also macular degeneration; visual-field defect.

blindness [′blīnd·nəs]

(medicine)

Loss or absence of the ability to perceive visual images.

The condition of a person having less than 1/10 (20/200 on the Snellen test) normal vision.

Blindness

Agib

dervish who lost an eye. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights]

Anchises

blinded by lightning. [Gk. Myth.: Walsh Classical, 22]

Blind Pew David,

the blind beggar. [Br. Lit.: Treasure Island]

Braille, Louis (1809–1852)

teacher of blind; devised raised printing which is read by touch. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 354]

Cratus

Titan who blinded Prometheus. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 67–68]

Demodocus

blind bard rewarded by Odysseus. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey VIII]

Ephialtes

giant deprived of his left eye by Apollo and of his right eye by Hercules. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 333]

Gloucester

cruelly blinded by those he served. [Br. Lit.: King Lear]

the Graeae

share one eye among them. [Gk. Myth.: Gayley, 208–210]

Heldar, Dick

artist who gradually goes blind and is abandoned by his sweetheart. [Br. Lit.: The Light that Failed in Benét, 586]

Homer

sightless writer of Iliad and Odyssey. [Gr. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 13]

Justice

personified as a blindfolded goddess, token of impartiality. [Rom. Tradition: Jobes II, 898]

Keller, Helen

(1880–1968) Achieved greatness despite blindness and deafness. [Am. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 13]

Lucy, St.

vision restored after gouging out of eyes. [Christian Hagiog.: Brewster, 20–21]

mole

said to lack eyes. [Medieval Animal Symbolism: White, 95–96]

Nydia

beautiful flower girl lacks vision but “sees” love. [Br. Lit.: The Last Days of Pompeii, Magill I, 490–492]

Odilia, St.

recovered vision; shrine, pilgrimage for visually afflicted. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 257]

Oedipus

blinded self on learning he had married his mother. [Gk. Lit.: Oedipus Rex]

Paul, St.

blinded by God on road to Damascus. [N.T.: Acts 9:1–19]

Peeping Tom

stricken blind for peeping as the naked Lady Godiva rode by. [Br. Legend: Brewer Dictionary]

Plutus

blind god of Wealth. [Gk. Lit.: Plutus]

Polyphemus

Cyclops blinded by Odysseus. [Gk. Myth.: Odyssey]

Rochester, Edward

blinded when his home burns down, depends on the care of Jane Eyre. [Br. Lit.: Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre]

Samson

Israelite hero treacherously blinded by Philistines. [O.T.: Judges 16:4–21]

Stagg

sightless roomkeeper. [Br. Lit.: Barnaby Rudge]

three blind mice

sightless rodents; lost tails to farmer’s wife. [Nurs. Rhyme: Opie, 306]

Tiresias

made sightless by Athena for viewing her nakedness. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 1086]

Tobit

sparrow guano falls into his eyes while sleeping. [Apocrypha: Tobit 2:10]

Zedekiah

eyes put out for revolting against Nebuchadnezzar. [O.T.: II Kings 25:7]

blindness (redirected from Visual disabilities)

blindness

blindness
(redirected from Visual disabilities)