Low vision is a term commonly used among eye care professionals to mean partial sight, or sight that isn't fully correctable with surgery, pharmaceuticals, contact lenses or glasses. Low vision includes moderate vision impairment, such as tunnel vision or blind spots. It also includes legal blindness and almost total blindness.

There are hundreds of low vision aids and scores of proven strategies for coping with low vision. These aids and strategies can help visually impaired people maximize their remaining vision and maintain their independence.

Knowledge is the key to living with low vision. People with low vision can enhance their quality of life by learning which optical and non-optical aids can help them, and by integrating strategies for dealing with the visual impairment into daily life.

But knowledge is just the first part. Practice is the important next step. Just as an amputee must learn to walk with his new prosthesis, a person with low vision must practice using adaptive aids until they become second nature.

Low vision has a variety of causes, including:

Cataracts

Glaucoma

Macular Degeneration

Diabetic Retinopathy

Low Vision Devices