Congenital blindness

Congenital blindness refers to blindness present at birth.^[1] Congenital blindness is sometimes used interchangeably with "Childhood Blindness." However, current literature has various definitions of both terms. Childhood blindness encompasses multiple diseases and conditions present in ages up to 16 years old, which can result in permanent blindness or severe visual impairment over time.^[2] Congenital blindness is a hereditary disease and can be treated by gene therapy. Visual loss in children or infants can occur either at the prenatal stage (during the time of conception or intrauterine period) or postnatal stage (immediately after birth).^[3] There are multiple possible causes of congenital blindness. In general, 60% of congenital blindness cases are contributed from prenatal stage and 40% are contributed from inherited disease.^[4] However, most of the congenital blindness cases show that it can be avoidable or preventable with early treatment.^[5]