If ordinary eyeglasses, contact lenses or lens implants don't give you clear vision, you are said to have low vision. Don't confuse this condition with blindness. People with low vision still have useful vision that can often be improved with visual devices. Whether your visual impairment is mild or severe, low vision generally means that your vision does not meet your needs.

Vision loss can be caused by many different factors. Some people are more "at risk" for low vision, including the elderly, diabetics, premature infants and those with other physical impairments or inherited conditions, such as albinism or retinitis pigmentosa. Low vision also may be caused by disease, such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, hypertension and multiple sclerosis. In others, the vision loss may be due to retinal detachment, head injury or ocular trauma.

If you have low vision, there are many low vision devices available to you.  A low vision device is an apparatus that improves vision. There is no one device that restores normal vision in all circumstances, so you may need different devices for different purposes.  There are two types of low vision devices: optical and non-optical.

Optical low vision devices use lenses or combinations of lenses to provide magnification. They should not be confused with standard eyeglasses. There are five main kinds of optical devices:

• Magnifying spectacles are stronger than ordinary glasses. When you use them, you need to hold your reading material very close; otherwise the print is out of focus. This may feel awkward at first, but you will become used to it. They are designed for close work, so magnifying spectacles leave both hands free to hold reading material.

• Hand magnifiers are familiar to most people. With these, you can hold reading material at a normal distance. You can buy hand magnifiers in department or drug stores.

• Stand magnifiers rest on the reading material. Some have a self-contained light source.

• Telescopes are used for distance magnification. They may be hand held for viewing distant objects, or mounted in spectacles.

• Closed-circuit television produces an enlarged image on a television screen. With adjustable magnification and contrast, a closed-circuit television is often easier to use than other devices.

• Large-print books, newspapers and magazines

• Check-writing guides

• Large playing cards

• Enlarged telephone dials

• High-contrast watch faces

• Machines that talk (timers, clocks, computers)

• Machines that scan print and read aloud

The simplest non-optical technique is getting closer to what you want to see. Holding reading material very close to your eyes or sitting as close as one foot from the television screen will not cause eye damage, contrary to popular belief.

If you have questions concerning your particular diagnosis and what devices TotalVision Eyecare Center has that will help you, please call or email our office for a low vision evaluation.