Visual acuity

Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e., (i) the sharpness of the retinal focus within the eye, (ii) the health and functioning of the retina, and (iii) the sensitivity of the interpretative faculty of the brain.

A common cause of low visual acuity is refractive error (ametropia), or errors in how the light is refracted in the eyeball. Causes of refractive errors include aberrations in the shape of the eyeball, the shape of the cornea, and reduced flexibility of the lens. Too high or too low refractive error (in relation to the length of the eyeball) is the cause of nearsightedness (myopia) or farsightedness (hyperopia) (normal refractive status is referred to as emmetropia). Other optical causes are astigmatism or more complex corneal irregularities. These anomalies can mostly be corrected by optical means (such as eyeglasses, contact lenses, laser surgery, etc.).

Neural factors that limit acuity are located in the retina or the brain (or the pathway leading there). Examples for the first are a detached retina and macular degeneration, to name just two. Another common impairment, amblyopia, is caused by the visual brain not having developed properly in early childhood. In some cases, low visual acuity is caused by brain damage, such as from traumatic brain injury or stroke. When optical factors are corrected for, acuity can be considered a measure of neural well-functioning.

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