Causes of vision loss can be due to chronic disease, infection, uncorrected refractive error (an optical defect of the eye that results in light not being focused clearly on the retina), trauma, or congenital defect.
In 2001, a major epidemiological survey revealed that, worldwide, women bear a greater burden of blindness and vision loss. Of the common eye diseases, dry eye syndrome, autoimmune diseases, and certain forms of cataract are intrinsically more prevalent in women than in men. In industrialized countries, age-related afflictions such as macular degeneration and cataract affect women more often than men because women tend to live longer. In developing countries, infectious diseases such as trachoma are more prevalent in women, and, in some areas of the world, women have less access to medical care.
