Genetic factors play a role in many kinds of eye disease, including those diseases that are the leading cause of blindness in infants, children, and adults. More than 60 percent of cases of blindness among infants are caused by inherited eye diseases and up to 40% of patients with certain types of ocular misalignment have a family history of the disease. Efforts are currently under way to identify the genes responsible.
In adults, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration are two of the leading causes of blindness, and both appear to be inherited in a significant portion of cases. Researchers are starting to identify genes involved in macular degeneration and those that cause retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease of the retina that causes night blindness and gradual vision loss.
Through the Northwell Genomics Health Alliance, genetic testing is available for hereditary eye disorders. Common tests ordered are listed below:
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