Certain eye conditions can be treated by surgery or medication and normal vision is often restored. Other conditions can't be treated and you may lose some of your vision premanently. When all corrective, therapeutic and surgical options have been exhausted, the remaining vision is known as Low Vision.

If you have Low Vision you may experience difficulty with any of the following:

• Reading normal print and doing fine detailed work, for example sewing or crafts
• Recognising faces
• Watching television
• Seeing markings on appliances like your microwave, stove and telephone
• Crossing the street
• Seeing in bright or dim light
   

There are many causes of Low Vision, these are some of the main ones:

• Macula degeneration
• Eye trauma
• Retinitis pigmentosa
• Glaucoma
• Diabetic retinopathy
• Retinal detachment
• Hereditary and birth defects
   

Not everybody experiences Low Vision in the same way. Depending on your condition, you may experience one or more of the following:

• Loss of central vision, with good side vision remaining
• Loss of side vision, with good central vision still remaining. This is known as "tunnel vision"
• Extreme sensitivity to bright light
• Night blindness
• Seeing shadows or dull patches
• Reduced colour vision and contrast perception
   

If any of these symptoms or conditions apply to you, then you may benefit from a Low Vision consultation.

During this consultation you Low Vision practitioner will:

• Take a detailed case history
• Establish your specific needs and goals
• Test your eyes
• Measure your current spectacles and reading or magnifying glasses
• Recommended one or more Low Vision devices to meet your needs
• Make sure you can use the device properly
• Answer any questions you may have
   

• Special reading glasses
• Magnifiers (pocket, handheld, standing, clip-on or illuminated)
• Telescopes to magnify things at a distance
• Special filter sunglasses
• Electronic reading devices
• Talking clocks, large digit calculators and telephones, large print books and needle threaders
• Talking books

If you have ever been told that nothing more could be done to restore your vision but you have:

• Some useable vision
• Motivation to improve your lifestyle
• A willingness to adapt to a new way of seeing things
• Accepted that you have Low Vision

At Paterson Burn we have an experienced low vision practitioner, Rodney Stedall who immigrated here from South Africa where he ran a specialty low vision practice at The Pretoria Eye Institute, a dedicated eye hospital.

Rodney is available for low vision consultations at our Anglesea Street branch. When making an appointment please advise the receptionist that you would like to see Rodney for a low vision consultation.