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Low vision initiative begins for professional awareness
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Patients with low vision are beginning to receive more attention from eye care practitioners as the medical profession learns more about the condition and how to treat it, said physicians speaking here.
Organizations such as the Pan-American Society of Low Vision are educating eye care professionals on the differences in low vision, according to Lourdes Medina, MD. During a panel discussion here at the Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology, Dr. Medina also said practitioners need to learn how to teach patients on how to use the vision they have.
Globally, 75 million people are expected to have low vision by 2020. She said there is no way to restore vision through devices such as telescopic lenses; rather, treatment is considered rehabilitation.
Federico Guillermo Hermes Baltranena, MD, addressed some common misconceptions by the medical community on how to treat patients with low vision. Dr. Baltranena emphasized that physicians should dispel myths that low vision is the equivalent of blindness or that patients must suffer with their condition. He noted that some patients can benefit from corrective lenses. Educating the general public about low vision means more people will seek treatment, he said.
Some of the major causes are cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, infant blindness and uncorrected refractive errors, Dr. Medina said.