Low Vision (Subnormal Vision)

Vision considered to be inferior to normal vision as represented by accepted standards of acuity, field of vision, or motility. Low vision generally refers to visual disorders that are caused by diseases that cannot be corrected by refraction (e.g., MACULAR DEGENERATION; RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA; DIABETIC RETINOPATHY, etc.).

Also Known As:

Networked: 392 relevant articles (30 outcomes, 27 trials/studies)

Relationship Network

Disease Context: Research Results

Related Diseases

1.	Macular Edema
2.	Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
3.	Blindness (Hysterical Blindness)
4.	Macular Degeneration (Age-Related Maculopathy)
5.	Scotoma (Scintillating Scotoma)

Experts

1.	Warren, Mary: 5 articles (05/2015 - 01/2007)
2.	Massof, Robert W: 4 articles (10/2011 - 09/2002)
3.	Markowitz, Samuel N: 4 articles (01/2011 - 06/2006)
4.	Berger, Sue: 3 articles (05/2013 - 08/2008)
5.	Keeffe, Jill E: 3 articles (12/2012 - 06/2005)
6.	Selva, Dinesh: 3 articles (08/2010 - 03/2007)
7.	Summers, C Gail: 3 articles (06/2009 - 11/2004)
8.	Copolillo, Al: 3 articles (01/2007 - 05/2005)
9.	Johnston, A W: 3 articles (08/2001 - 05/2001)
10.	Haymes, S A: 3 articles (08/2001 - 05/2001)

Drugs and Biologics

Drugs and Important Biological Agents (IBA) related to Low Vision:

1.	Retinaldehyde (Retinal)IBA 03/01/2008 - "The aim of this study was to compare the various positions of preferred retinal locus (PRL) with the results of low vision rehabilitation to reading in view to elucidate the mechanisms involved. " 05/01/2005 - "To study the effectiveness and efficiency of the visual tasks performed by people with low vision, knowing the movement patterns of their preferred retinal locus (PRL) used for fixation, saccade, and pursuit is critical. " 01/01/2015 - "[Congenital retinal macrovessel: an atypical presentation with low vision and macular thickening]." 01/01/2015 - "Low vision patients with eccentric viewing (EV) use extrafoveal retinal areas to compensate for the loss of central vision. " 11/01/2014 - "Eyes with increased CVP after more severe CRVO demonstrate significantly reduced vision, reduced retinal blood flow, a higher incidence of rubeosis iridis, and larger areas of CNP that correlate with the degree of CVP elevation."
2.	ranibizumab (Lucentis)FDA Link 07/01/2009 - "The goal of this study was to see how the availability of ranibizumab affected the referral patterns for low vision (LV) evaluation. " 04/01/2012 - "Ranibizumab rapidly and sustainably improved vision, reduced the risk of further vision loss, and improved macular edema in patients with DME, with low rates of ocular and nonocular harm." 02/01/2011 - "Low vision rehabilitation strategy for this group of patients in the ranibizumab era will be very different from those used in untreated patients with dense central scotoma. " 02/01/2011 - "Ranibizumab treatment in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration and very low vision."
3.	Fluconazole (Zonal)FDA LinkGeneric 07/01/1999 - "In a large study that included a subset of subjects with paired eye compared with those with monofocal lenses, this zonal-progressive multifocal lens provided a high level of uncorrected and corrected distance vision, improved uncorrected and distance-corrected near vision, reduced spectacle dependency, and a high level of patient satisfaction despite some loss of low-contrast visual acuity and increased reports of halos and glare."
4.	ROPIBA 06/01/2015 - "Snellen acuity ≤0.5 occurred across the ROP subgroups, but mainly in those with at least ROP stage 3. Two children had low vision. " 06/01/2011 - "Initially, some of these cases showed evidence of cicatricial ROP and low vision from early in life. " 10/01/2008 - "Patients with MH secondary to ROP have increased macular thickness and reduced vision." 11/01/2004 - "The median HRQL score for the ROP-randomized children was lower than for the no-ROP children (0.72 vs 0.97, P<.001); the median HRQL score for the sighted-randomized children was 0.87 vs 0.27 for the blind/low vision children (P<.001). " 11/01/2004 - "Within the ROP-randomized group, the proportion of "sighted" children with limitations in 4 attributes or more was 6.4% vs 46.5% in the "blind/low vision" group. "
5.	Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor)IBA 10/01/2015 - "To assess the effect of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment on visual acuity outcome in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration presenting with very low vision. " 04/01/2014 - "RESULTS Among beneficiaries newly diagnosed as having exudative ARMD, the introduction of anti-VEGF therapy reduced vision loss by 41% (95% CI, 52%-68%) and onset of severe vision loss and blindness by 46% (95% CI, 47%-63%). " 07/01/2015 - "Patients were considered for FMT if they had low vision in the fellow eye and choroidal neovascularization (CNV) along with (1) no response to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors, (2) retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) tear, (3) subretinal hemorrhage, (4) foveal scar tissue of recent onset, or (5) CNV before the availability of VEGF inhibitors. " 07/01/2009 - "Patterns of referral of retinal patients for low vision intervention in the anti-VEGF era." 03/01/2014 - "While anti-VEGF therapy has become as first-line treatment for diabetic macular edema (DME) that causes reduced vision, intravitreal glucocorticoids also have been shown to be efficacious in this situation. "
6.	tranilast (N 5')IBA 02/01/2011 - "Patients were also grouped into one of four categories: group I: patients whose blurred or snowfield vision completely recovered within up to a maximum of 2 weeks after discharge (n=7); group II, the patients who were blind at the time of discharge (n=5) and partially recovered within a maximum of 3-4 weeks; group III, the patients who were blind at the time of discharge and gained no improvement in their vision (n=5); group IV, who were blind at the time of discharge, partially recovered within few days to approximately 1 month and experienced reduced vision and blindness after about a maximum of 9 months (n=4). " 06/01/2011 - "The predominant RES symptoms were pain (n=31), photosensitivity (n=5) and reduced vision (n=4). " 10/01/2010 - "PTK was performed on 18 eyes of 14 patients; PTK was performed to treat scars (n = 8 eyes), band-shaped keratopathy (n = 5 eyes), and granular dystrophy (n = 5 eyes) for reduced vision. " 04/26/2000 - "In addition to diminished vision and hearing, conjunctivitis, and headache, some case-patients had blood leak alarm activation (n=6), confusion/lethargy (n=5), corneal opacification (n=4), cardiac arrest (n=2), or other neurologic signs and symptoms. "
7.	A-factor (Streptomyces)IBA 10/01/2004 - "Geometrical analysis of monocular visual information specifying distance shows that a low vision telescope compresses optically specified distances by a factor about equal to its magnification. " 11/01/1996 - "The difference was more than a factor of three for normal-vision subjects and close to a factor of two for low-vision subjects (10 characters for CCTV vs 5.2 characters for drifting-text for 85% of maximum reading speed." 09/01/2012 - "The ability of low vision patients to discriminate the facial emotions of jittering images improved by a factor of 2. A prototype of optoelectronic jitter goggles produced similar improvement in facial emotion discrimination. "
8.	GABA-B Receptor AgonistsIBA 02/01/2015 - "PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT: Depending on the pathophysiology of different types of nystagmus, several drugs were effective in clinical application (off-label use): (i) gabapentin (non-selective GABAergic and anti-glutamatergic effect): up to 2400 mg/d in infantile nystagmus, acquired pendular nystagmus and oculopalatal tremor, (ii) nemantine (anti-glutamatergic effect): dosage up to 40 mg/d in infantile nystagmus, also in acquired pendular nystagmus and oculopalatal tremor, (iii) baclofen (GABA-B-receptor agonist): 3 × 5-10 mg/d in periodic alternating nystagmus and in upbeat nystagmus, (iv) 4-aminopyridine (non-selective blocker of voltage-gated potassium channels): 3 × 5 mg/d or 1-2 × 10 mg Fampridin in downbeat nystagmus and upbeat nystagmus, (v) acetazolamide (carbonic anhydrase inhibitor): in hereditary episodic ataxia type 2. OPTICAL DEVICES: (i) Contact lenses are used in infantile nystagmus in order to overcome negative effects of eye glasses in abnormal head posture, lateral gaze, and higher refractive errors, (ii) spectacle prisms are useful to induce an artificial exophoria (base-out prisms) or to shift an excentric null zone (base in direction of head posture) of infantile nystagmus with abnormal head posture, (iii) low vision aids may be necessary and should be prescribed according to magnification requirements."
9.	Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels (Voltage-Gated Potassium Channel)IBA 02/01/2015 - "PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT: Depending on the pathophysiology of different types of nystagmus, several drugs were effective in clinical application (off-label use): (i) gabapentin (non-selective GABAergic and anti-glutamatergic effect): up to 2400 mg/d in infantile nystagmus, acquired pendular nystagmus and oculopalatal tremor, (ii) nemantine (anti-glutamatergic effect): dosage up to 40 mg/d in infantile nystagmus, also in acquired pendular nystagmus and oculopalatal tremor, (iii) baclofen (GABA-B-receptor agonist): 3 × 5-10 mg/d in periodic alternating nystagmus and in upbeat nystagmus, (iv) 4-aminopyridine (non-selective blocker of voltage-gated potassium channels): 3 × 5 mg/d or 1-2 × 10 mg Fampridin in downbeat nystagmus and upbeat nystagmus, (v) acetazolamide (carbonic anhydrase inhibitor): in hereditary episodic ataxia type 2. OPTICAL DEVICES: (i) Contact lenses are used in infantile nystagmus in order to overcome negative effects of eye glasses in abnormal head posture, lateral gaze, and higher refractive errors, (ii) spectacle prisms are useful to induce an artificial exophoria (base-out prisms) or to shift an excentric null zone (base in direction of head posture) of infantile nystagmus with abnormal head posture, (iii) low vision aids may be necessary and should be prescribed according to magnification requirements."
10.	Endothelial Growth FactorsIBA 02/01/2012 - "Intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor bevacizumab was tolerated and generally associated with improved vision, reduced papillary hemorrhage, and resolution of optic disc edema. "

Therapies and Procedures

1.	Eyeglasses (Spectacles) 09/01/2006 - "Of 124 children with low vision but having useful residual vision, 51 (41.1%) were able to read N-10 unaided or with distance spectacles and 30 children (22.6%) improved to N-10 with spectacle magnifiers and were prescribed the same. " 07/01/2009 - "Six students (13.3%) benefited from spectacles and/or low vision devices. " 06/01/2009 - "Improved follow-up enables children to receive the spectacles and low vision devices necessary for visual rehabilitation. " 09/01/1995 - "The aims of this study were, firstly, to assess the need for spectacles and optical low vision devices in students with low vision in schools for the blind in Kenya and Uganda; secondly, to evaluate inexpensive locally produced low vision devices; and, finally, to evaluate simple methods of identifying those low vision students who could read N5 to N8 print after low vision assessment. " 01/01/2014 - "Introducing low vision rehabilitation can benefit both workers and employers as it provides care beyond spectacles or contact lens prescriptions."
2.	Lenses 01/01/2002 - "Of the 26 children aged 10-15 years who were identified as having low vision, 15 (57.7%) of them had significant improvement in distance and near vision after refraction while one third (31%) had improvement in their reading with low power magnifying lenses. " 03/01/1976 - "This technique can be very useful in low vision applications where other methods of measuring high plus ophthalmic lenses are always cumbersome and time consuming and sometimes inaccurate or inconclusive." 01/01/2002 - "This is a review of studies that have investigated the proposed rehabilitative benefit of tinted lenses and filters for people with low vision. " 06/01/2005 - "In all, 56 IOLs showed signs of opacification, resulting in reduced vision out of 181 lenses traced. " 01/01/2002 - "Therefore, the use of tinted lenses in low vision remains controversial and eye care practitioners will have to continue to rely on anecdotal evidence to assist them in their prescribing decisions. "
3.	Contact Lenses 09/01/2002 - "Instructions for administration were modified to have study participants answer all the questions as if they were wearing glasses or contact lenses or were using low-vision devices. " 09/01/2015 - "Many optometrists routinely conducted direct ophthalmoscopy (100 per cent), slitlamp biomicroscopy (87.5 per cent) and contact tonometry (55.7 per cent); however, few provided contact lens (10.2 per cent) and low vision (9.1 per cent) assessments, with 76 per cent stating that it was due to the unavailability of low vision devices, poor sources of contact lenses (27 per cent) and perceived insufficient training (11.2 per cent). " 07/01/2014 - "Low vision may be defined as any chronic form of vision impairment, not correctable by glasses or contact lenses, that adversely affects everyday function. " 12/01/1981 - "Areas in which optometrists are strongly qualified to do so include physiological optics, contact lenses, low vision, and binocular vision. " 03/01/1976 - "Low vision care and contact lenses."
4.	Psychology Biofeedback (Biofeedback) 07/01/2002 - "A preliminary study was carried out on 18 eyes of 13 patients with low vision who underwent visual rehabilitation with a new instrument for biofeedback (BF) applied to vision; improved biofeedback integrated system (Ibis). " 06/01/2009 - "We studied the efficacy of low-vision rehabilitation by means of MP-1 biofeedback examination in patients with different macular disease. " 11/01/2012 - "To evaluate the effectiveness of biofeedback treatment for low-vision rehabilitation in patients affected by macular disease. " 06/01/2009 - "Low-vision rehabilitation, which lasted 10 weeks, consisted of 10 training sessions of 10 min for each eye, performed once a week using the MP-1 biofeedback examination. " 06/01/2009 - "Low-vision rehabilitation by means of MP-1 biofeedback examination in patients with different macular diseases: a pilot study."
5.	Aftercare (After-Treatment) 07/01/2013 - "Nearly half of the patients 23 (47.9%) presented with low vision and after treatment there was no visual improvement in almost all of them, 22 (45.8%). " 08/01/2011 - "After treatment, seven of the nine patients with reduced vision had complete or nearly complete restoration of vision,while two who presented with nil perception of light (one in both eyes) had no recovery of vision. " 11/01/2012 - "A repeat examination 4.5 hours after treatment found improved vision, reduced macular edema, and no emboli. " 09/01/2001 - "After treatment for the postoperative complications, the prevalence of blindness and low vision was decreased to 1.96% and 6.01%, respectively. " 10/01/1998 - "Of the people with low vision or blindness after treatment, 81.7% had a best corrected visual acuity of between 6/18 and 6/60. "