Low vision is a term used among eyecare professionals to describe partial sight or sight that is not fully correctable with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery.  Examples of low vision include “tunnel vision, blind spots, loss of central vision, legal, and total blindness”.  Low vision has a variety of causes—eye injury, eye disease, or heredity.  Sometimes low vision simply means that things don’t come fully into focus with either glasses or contact lenses.  Other times, Low vision may mean inability to distinguish colors, see contrasts or be unable to determine depth (how far away you are from something).  Certain eye diseases cause low vision.  These include glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa, which affect the peripheral or side vision.  Macular degeneration also causes low vision, and affects the central vision.  Without the help of a professional people with low vision may have difficulty driving safely, reading, viewing a television or computer screen, or even navigating around their own homes.  Optometrists who specialize in low vision prescribe devices and therapy that help the partially sighted to successfully participate in daily activities such as reading, sewing, driving, and cooking.  Do you or anyone that you know have low vision?  The first step is to have an eye exam with Dr. Hamilton who can tell you if you do indeed have low vision.  Dr. Hamilton can prescribe the right low vision device for you, which may be magnifiers, telescopes or video magnifiers.  He may also recommend things like large printed material, special lighting fixtures, or audio tapes.  These are all ways to help maximize your visual potential.