World Retinitis Pigmentosa Day 2018

Sunday, 30 September 2018 marks World Retinitis Pigmentosa Day. The term Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) describes the most frequent group of hereditary diseases of the retina.

Retinitis Pigmentosa appears slowly and silently and tends to do so when a person is between 25 and 40 years old. It affects one in every 4,000 people and it is leading cause of total blindness. However, the hereditary component is present in the majority of Retinitis Pigmentosa cases.

Retinitis Pigmentosa involves a progressive loss of visual acuity, defects in the visual field and night blindness. The initial symptoms are being easily dazzled, a difficulty to adapt to darkness, progressive loss of the visual field and defects in chromatic vision.

At present, there is no treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa although the research conducted all around the world is highly intensive and encouraging.