What Are the Causes of Vision Loss? What Puts a Child at Risk?
Reviewed by: My Child Without Limits Advisory Committee November 2009 Some babies are born blind or with severe vision loss. This can be caused by many different things, including defects in the eye itself, problems with the part of the brain responsible for vision, or by infections. Some of the factors placing an infant, toddler, or child at significant risk for visual impairment include: • Prematurity, low birth weight, oxygen at birth, or bleeding in the brain • Family history of retinoblastoma, congenital cataracts, or metabolic or genetic disease • Infection of mother during pregnancy such as rubella, toxoplasmosis, venereal disease, herpes, cytomegalovirus or AIDS) • Problems with the central nervous system such as developmental delay, cerebral palsy, seizures, or hydrocephalus. There are many causes of vision loss. Some cause more severe loss than others. One of the most common conditions is known as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is an eye pr
