No clear answers exist as to why people get these common eye ailments, although genetics, age, and injuries usually play roles. What’s sure, however, is that each disease is unique and, thus, requires herbal remedies specific to the problem.
- Cataracts: Progressive clouding of the lens, which causes blurred vision, light sensitivity, and other symptoms.
- Glaucoma: Progressive damage to the optic nerve, often accompanied by high intraocular fluid pressure. Slowly causes peripheral vision loss and eventually blindness.
- Loss of night vision: Reduced ability to see well at night or in dim light because of decreased sensitivity in the retina.
- Macular degeneration: Loss of central vision due to the slow breakdown of light-sensing cells in the macula, a central area of the retina that is especially sensitive to visual input.
- Retinitis pigmentosa: Inflammation of the retina’s pigment layer.
- Retinopathy: Noninflammatory degenerative disease of the retina that comes in many types, such as diabetic retinopathy.
—E.E.