Many types of eye disease can be inherited. Most cases of blindness in infants are caused by inherited forms of eye diseases.
For many of us, researching our ancestral roots has become a favorite pastime. But did you know that understanding your family history can also be vital to maintaining good health?
Genetics plays a role in increasing our chances of developing many medical disorders including those that impact vision and eye health. If you have close relatives who have some ocular conditions,
you have a greater chance of developing them than those without a family history. While rare, hereditary eye conditions can affect individuals at any age and progress at different rates.
Many are degenerative, which means that the symptoms of the disease will worsen over time. The most common hereditary eye conditions includes...
Strabismus: This is an ocular misalignment sometimes referred to as cross-eyes or a disorder in which the eyes don't look in exactly the same direction. Patients with strabismus have problems
with the control of eye movement and cannot keep normal ocular alignment (eye position).Strabismus usually appears in infants and young children, and most often by the time a child is 3 years old.
However, older children and even adults can develop strabismus. The sudden appearance of strabismus, especially with double vision, in an older child or adult could indicate a more serious neurologic disorder.
If this happens, call your doctor immediately.
Amblyopia (lazy eye): Decreased eyesight due to abnormal visual development. It occurs in early childhood. When nerve pathways between the brain and an eye aren't properly stimulated, the brain favors the
other eye causing suppression of the ill-stimulated eye. The weaker — or lazy — eye often wanders inward or outward. Amblyopia generally develops from birth up to age 7 years. It is the leading cause of
decreased vision among children. Rarely, lazy eye affects both eyes. Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent long-term problems with your child's vision. The eye with poorer vision can usually be
corrected with glasses or contact lenses, or patching therapy.
Cataracts: A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s crystalline lens. The lens, which focuses images on the light-sensitive retina, is normally transparent. Cataracts occur when proteins in the lens form into
abnormal clumps. These clumps enlarge gradually and interfere with vision by distorting or blocking the passage of light through the lens. If you have close relatives who have had cataracts, you have a
greater chance of developing them than those without a family history. One of the basic symptoms reported by patients that have this are cloudy vision, report of a veil covering their vision, haloes,
inability to recognize faces, e.t.c.
Glaucoma: This is a condition that irreversibly damages the optic nerve because of a build-up of pressure inside the eye. If left untreated, it leads to vision loss and blindness. Genetics is believed
to play a major role in many forms of glaucoma. In fact, having a family member with glaucoma makes you four to nine times more likely to develop the disease.
Retinitis pigmentosa: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare, inherited degenerative eye disease that affects the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of the eye). Retinitis pigmentosa makes
cells in the retina break down slowly over time, causing vision loss. RP is a genetic disease that people are born with. Symptoms usually start in childhood, and most people eventually lose most of their
sight. There’s no cure for this eye condition. But vision aids and rehabilitation (training) programs can help people with RP make the most of their vision. br
The most common early symptom of Retinitis pigmentosa is loss of night vision — usually starting in childhood. Parents may notice that children with RP have trouble moving around in the dark or adjusting to
dim light. It can also cause loss of side (peripheral) vision, so you have trouble seeing things out of the corners of your eyes. Over time, your field of vision narrows until you only have some central
vision (also called tunnel vision).
Some people with Retinitis pigmentosa lose their vision more quickly than others. Eventually, most people with RP lose their side vision and their central vision. Other symptoms include sensitivity to bright
light and loss of color vision.
Refractive errors such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism.