Blindness

Have you or has someone close to you suffered vision loss due to an accident or negligence? Contact me today for a free legal consultation. I am a Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer, and I've recovered millions of dollars for my clients.

What is blindness?

Blindness is the complete and total lack of vision is one or both eyes. However there are other levels of blindness that, while offering some measurable level of vision, are still severe handicaps compared to normal eyesight. While someone with total blindness may not have any visual acuity at all, someone who is legally blind may only be able to see changes in light level, or vague blurry shapes, even with corrective lenses.

How does vision loss occur?

Vision loss can have many different causes. Many types of diseases and infections can result in blindness, as well as conditions that occur naturally over time as people age. Tragically, a common cause of blindness is personal injury. In fact, eye injuries are the number one cause of monocular blindness (blindness is one eye) in the US for people under the age of 30. Even without external damage to the eye, injury induced blindness is possible. Optic nerve hypoplasia, damage to the nerve bundle that sends visual information from the eye to the brain, can be the result of blunt impact to the head. This type of trauma can also cause cortical blindness, which is when damage is done to the area of the brain that receives and interprets signals from the optical nerve. With this type of injury, sight is not possible even with pharmacy healthy, functioning eyes.

Symptoms of blindness or vision loss.

Symptoms include any noticeable loss is vision, including blurriness or inability to focus, double vision, decreased periphery or range of vision, or even complete loss of sight. In children, these symptoms might be harder to detect, and may present through behavioral changes. Acting out, disinterest in hobbies or activities that require focused eye sight, or a decline in performance at school may indicate a loss in visual acuity.

How is vision loss diagnosed?

An optometrist or ophthalmologist will perform a comprehensive eye exam, which consists of several different tests that measure the health, shape, and performance of the eye and it's parts. If no viable injury or defect is detected, but loss of vision is still apparent, a consultation with a neurologist me be required. A neurologist will be able to test for damage to the optic nerves and brain.

How is vision loss treated?

In some cases, especially in those of true blindness, there may be no cure. In those cases, coping mechanisms can be taught, and methods of living without eyesight can be learned. In situations with only limited vision loss, several possible treatments are available. Corrective lenses, both eye glasses and contact lenses, are a commonly used to fix a wide variety of vision problems. Additionally, corrective surgery methods have been developed that can be used to repair and reshape certain parts of the eye's surface.

Choosing a personal injury lawyer

A good personal injury attorney will work with you directly and assist you with obtaining the maximum amount of compensation that may be available to you. In the vast majority of cases, a personal injury attorney can recover significantly more money for you than you would recover without an attorney. Feel free to contact us today for a free consultation. We have offices in Encino, Los Angeles, and every city listed at the bottom of this page. We represent clients in all parts of Southern California including Beverly Hills, Encino, Hollywood, Long Beach, Riverside and San Bernardino.  

Additional Resource

• Traumatic Injury