How many people are affected by blindness ?
According to WHO there are 39 million people suffering from blindness around the world. Some causes can be cured (cataract), but other diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) have no specific treatment yet.
Glaucoma is caused by damage to the optic nerve. AMD and RP result from the degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina. In all cases, the visual pathway is impaired, leading to vision loss.
People affected by AMD will progressively witness central vision loss whereas RP is characterized by a peripheral vision loss. For example, you might see the Vision Institute in Paris as in the first image, but someone with AMD will see a dark spot in the middle (image 2) and someone who has RP will not be able to discern the surroundings of that beautiful building (image 3).
