Blindness & Low Vision News & Articles


Blind Runner Completes Marathon Challenge

A blind man is set to make history by completing ten marathons in just ten days and cycling tandem to John O'Groats. Dave Heeley, 52, from West Bromwich who lost his sight to the progressively blinding eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, plans to raise over £100,000 for cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support through the act of endurance.

5th September 2010

Blind Mice Can See Scientists Claim

Scientists have found that 'blind mice' are able to use special photo-sensitive retinal cells to see light, patterns and images. The discovery has shocked researchers who, until now, believed that rod and cone cells were the only ocular cells that could process light in a way that resulted in image formation and perception.

15th July 2010

Guide Dogs Attacked

Three guide dogs are attacked by other dogs every month in the UK according to shocking new figures. A report published by the British Medical Journal analysed 100 canine attacks and found that 61% of guide dogs were attacked whilst in a harness and working with their blind owner.

21st June 2010

New Device Helps Blind People

A new device to help blind people safely move from one place to another has been developed by students in Israel.

6th June 2010

Video Games for Blind Children

Researchers at the University of Nevada have developed a new video game that will enable blind or visually impaired children to enjoy exercising. The VIFit project uses motion sensitive video games that issue simple audio cues for players to follow.

1st June 2010

Treatment for Half Blind Stroke Victims

Simple training could help thousands of people who have become partially sighted following a stroke or brain injury, researchers at Durham University claim.

22nd May 2010

New Eye Disease Drug Trialled

Researchers have trialled a new drug that could be used to treat a degenerative corneal disease that could lead to blindness or partial vision loss. Scientists in the department of ophthalmology at the Children's Hospital of Michigan were able to successfully treat four patients with chronic neurotrophic keratitis using a new drug developed by RegeneRx
Biopharmaceuticals.

17th April 2010

New Research into Eye Disorders

Millions of pounds are to be channelled into funding new research into macular degeneration and glaucoma. The American Health Association Foundation has awarded $8 million into researching macular degeneration, glaucoma and alzhiemers.

21st April 2010

New Gene Therapy Could Cure Eye Disorders

New research suggests that gene therapy could cure eye disorders that lead to blindness. The research, published in the April edition of the Journal of American Association of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, seems to show that a particular form of gene therapy could be used to restore sight in people who suffer from Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).

7th April 2010

Gene Therapy Could Cure Blindness

Scientists in Oklahoma have published new research that suggests that intensive nanoparticle gene therapy could be used to develop a cure for blindness.

2nd April 2010

Inherited Blindness Gene Therapy Passes Next Stage

Having passed the first stage with successfully improving the eyesight in one eye of 12 young adults and children; the gene therapy for inherited blindness has now passed its second tests on animals to decipher whether or not it is safe to conduct the therapy in the other untreated eye. Therefore, patients could soon be receiving gene therapy in not one but both of their eyes.

7th March 2010

Soldier Sees Again Using His Tongue

A wounded Iraq soldier has been blind for three years following a grenade attack that robbed him of his sight. However, he is one of the first people to try out the revolutionary BrainPort which uses the tongue to transfer images to the brain so the user is able to distinguish objects. Having been blind for three years this latest technology is giving Craig Lundberg something he never thought he’d have again.

2nd March 2010

£399 Home Tester Kit Causes Controversy

Following yesterdays news that the leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration, could in fact be tested for using a home tester kit that is later sent off to a laboratory, a leading charity speaks out against the product. A spokeswoman for the charity has issued warnings against the kit and was said to be “outraged” at the marketing involved in the product.

23rd February 2010

Clue to Treatments for Blindness in Chickens’ Eyesight

Results that have been published in the latest edition of the journal PLoS One determine how chickens, along with other birds, can in fact see better colours than humans. The colour receptors within the chickens’ eyes appear to be more advanced than that of mammals and scientists believe this has something to do with the evolution process. Due to many mammals being nocturnal during evolution their colour receptors didn’t evolve as well as the birds that spent most of their time in the daylight.

12th February 2010

Blindness Could Be Prevented With Discovery of New Gene

The University of Leeds has led an international research study into a gene that can be carried unnoticed by family members leading to blindness in their children if inherited. The hope is that by understanding this gene and detecting it within family members it could lead to prevention of patients developing blindness as treatment can be carried out before the patients begin to lose sight.

12th February 2010

River Blindness Cure in Cattle Drug

Researchers believe they have found that a drug used in cattle to kill worms could in fact be used in the devastating eye disease, river blindness. 37 million people across the world are thought to be suffering from this...

11th February 2010

Popular Spice Could Prevent Blindness

According to a new study conducted by scientists in Italy and Australia, the well-known food spice Saffron, a popular ingredient in Mediterranean foods and curries, could help keep vision sharp.

6th February 2010

Beatrix Potter for the Blind

Even today many children grow up with the magical tales of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck and so on; but for many visually impaired children it has meant only words of creativity.

1st February 2010

RNIB Campaign Raises Awareness

The Royal National Institute for the Blind is to begin a campaign to remind people just how important their eyes are in the hope to encourage even more people to visit their opticians.

25th January 2010

Light intensifies migraine pain even in the blind

Following a recent study conducted at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, researchers believe they have found the connection between light and migraines.

12th January 2010

More Stem Cell Miracles promised

As we approach the end of 2009 with it we can take many successful new surgeries and the hope of many more to come, and no more predominant than in eye surgeries.

27th December 2009

Stem-cell treatment restores mans eyesight

Following a vicious attack 15 years ago, Russell Turnbull was left blind in one eye and with little hope he would ever regain his vision. The attack happened late one night when Mr. Turnbull was returning home on a bus, he tried to break up a fight which resulted in his attacker spraying ammonia into his right eye.

23rd December 2009

Stem Cell research could benefit people with eye disease

With the number of human donated corneas at an all time low many people who have eye or cornea disease will unfortunately continue to suffer.

14th December 2009

A ray of hope for anyone facing a lifetime without sight

Following a successful Bionic Eye trial at Manchester Royal Eye hospital a 50 year old man offers a glimmer of hope as he recovers some of his sight over twenty years after he lost it.

2nd December 2009

Intel’s E-reader brings hope to millions of visually impaired people.

As of the 10th November, computer giants Intel began selling an e-reader which the user can use to scan any piece of writing...

23rd November 2009

The End For Radio

As many of you will know, the government is pushing to get Britain to switch from analogue to DAB radio, but what does this mean for blind people?

11th November 2009

Eye Care Saves Money In The Long Run

Recent research from the Future Sight Loss UK Study showed that in 2008, sight loss and eye disease cost the UK over £6 billion.

10th November 2009

"WHO explains how Eye Glasses could help the Global Economy

On Tuesday 2nd June 2009, the World Health Organization announced that in the current state of the global economy, giving people free glasses would help save billions. 

Farsightedness, nearsightedness and other visual impairments are estimated to be prevalent amongst more than..."

4th June 2009

"New Hospital Waiting Time Targets Mean Patients Could Be Going Blind Doctors say that patients who are suffering from chronic eye conditions in Wales are go..."

26th June 2009

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