13th February 2025

Overview of chronic vision loss

Causes of chronic vision loss can be categorised according to the presence or absence of pain. Painless chronic vision loss can be caused by:

• Refractive error – characterised by vision improvement with pinhole
• Cataracts
• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
• Diabetic retinopathy
• Open-angle glaucoma
• Optic nerve pathology
• Hereditary retinal dystrophies
• Drugs, toxins and deficiencies

Painful chronic vision loss is much less common. A serious underlying cause, such as an intracranial mass, choroidal melanoma or optic neuritis, should be investigated.