Using the tools and techniques of soft condensed matter physics, a research team in Switzerland has demonstrated that a finely tuned balance of attractions between proteins keeps the lens of the eye transparent, and that even a small change in this balance can cause proteins to aggregate and de-mix. This leads to cataract formation, the world’s leading cause of blindness.

Scientists at UCL (University College London) have developed a more reliable test for detecting vision loss in people with age-related macular disease (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the UK and US. The method, which centres on a visual illusion, could lead to earlier self-diagnosis of sight deterioration – encouraging patients to access medical assistance earlier on and potentially delay loss of vision.

Research has shown that the poor who live at a socio-economic disadvantage run a higher risk of blindness.

A team of researchers from the University of Granada, in collaboration with the University of Murcia, has developed a visual aid device which significantly improves the vision of sight impaired patients; especially those suffering from pathologies with a slow progression that can eventually lead to blindness (such as Macular Degeneration, cataracts, etc.).

The ability to tactually recognize fine spatial details, such as the raised dots used in braille, is especially important to those who are blind. With that in mind, a team of researchers has identified the neural circuitry that facilitates spatial discrimination through touch. Understanding this circuitry may lead to the creation of sensory-substitution devices, such as tactile maps for the visually impaired.

An inflammatory eye condition that is one of the world’s leading causes of blindness could be treated much more effectively and easily thanks to a new discovery here.

Despite decades of advances in diabetes care, African Americans and Latinos are still far less likely than whites to have their blood sugar under control, even with the help of medications, a new nationally representative study finds. That puts them at a much higher risk of blindness, heart attack, kidney failure, foot amputation and other long-term diabetes complications.

Is it possible to offer hope for stroke patients who’ve lose part of their vision? A study published by SAGE in the journal Neurorehabilitation & Neural Repair explores that question.

The scientific community is just starting to appreciate the importance of pH regulation in normal vision.

A team of scientists, including three researchers at George Mason University, found that the mineral zinc could play a role in the development of macular degeneration. In studying eye tissue samples, the researches found that deposits, that are hallmarks of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), contain large amounts of zinc.

In a paper published in the journal Science, scientists from deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from the National University Hospital in Reykjavik and Uppsala University in Sweden report the discovery of two common single letter variations (SNPs) in the sequence of the human genome that appear to account for virtually all cases of a major subtype of glaucoma.

People suffering from a severe retinal disease will sooner or later lose their eyesight considerably or even become completely blind. Those affected, family members, researchers and doctors hope that this fate might be avoided one day by a better understanding of the reasons for this disease.