June is Vision Research Month in U.S.

According to the foundation Prevent Blindness America, while millions of Americans benefit from vision research, many eye diseases have no effective treatments or cures. In addition, for many rare eye diseases, little research has been done to understand how and why the disease occurs and who is at risk.

Some rare eye disorders:

• Achromatopsia is a rare hereditary vision disorder which results in poor visual acuity (can't see well) and colorblindness.
• Leber congenital amaurosis is an inherited retinal degenerative disorder that causes an infant to be born with severely impaired vision.
• Retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, is the name given to a group of inherited eye diseases that affect the retina.
• Uveitis is inflammation inside the eye, specifically affecting one or more of the three parts of the eye that make up the uvea: the iris, the ciliary body, and the choroid.

Photo © A.D.A.M.