Vision is our dominant sense. Research shows that between 70% and 80% of how we learn and interact with our environment is (at least in part) mediated by vision. Neurologic disease and injury can impair the input of sight, i.e. visual acuity and visual field, processing of vision, i.e. perception, or behavior, i.e. how we respond to what we; the visual motor abilities.
People can suffer decreased clarity of sight, loss of part, or all of their peripheral vision, lose the ability to make sense of what they see, incur double vision, bouncing vision and vertigo, dizziness, and lose the ability to read.
Loss of clarity of sight can come from injury to the eye itself. The cornea may be cut or scarred. A traumatic cataract can form. Bleeding into the eye cavity that obstructs vision can occur. A person can lose sight from macular disease or trauma that resembles macular degeneration. There are many ways the optic nerve can be injured causing loss of sight or blindness. If the visual cortex, or pathways of the brain affected the person will lose portions of their peripheral vision.
Next week I'll discuss Terson's syndrome, bleeding posterior chamber of the eye.