According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), in the world there are approximately 39 million blind people and by the year 2020 there will be 90 million. According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, 80% of blind people are aged over 50 years.
Image: courtesy of Dra Gemma Martínez-Navarrete
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Age-related macular degeneration is the primary cause of sight loss in the western world. It is characterized by the appearance of progressive degenerative lesions in the macula. It is classified into two groups: the wet variant, for which there are already treatments which can slow its progression, and the atrophic variant , on which there are already hopeful lines of research.
Retinitis pigmentosa is an eye disorder of a degenerative and hereditary nature that produces a severe deterioration in visual capacity and in many cases leads to blindness. In Spain, it is estimated that some 60,000 people carry the faulty genes responsible.
Stargardt's disease is the most common macular dystrophy. The incidence stands at around one person affected in every 10,000, and it usually affects adolescents and young people aged under 20 years. The symptoms are blurred vision that lacks sharpness, which hinders the recognition of faces and shapes as well as reading from both close up and from a distance.
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