Advancing visual science to promote comprehensive eye health

Visual system is a critical sensory system in humans and a vital component of the central nervous system, which is responsible for over 80% of external information acquisition.Visual function is a key indicator of overall health.With socioeconomic development, the public has higher expectations for eye health, shifting the focus of eye health initiatives from disease treatment to comprehensive public eye health.Key scientific challenges include how to effectively prevent, diagnose, and treat blindness and visual impairment at an early stage; how to enhance the overall visual quality of patients to ensure not just sight but clear and comfortable vision; and how to meet the public’s diverse and multi-tiered eye health needs.Visual science is an interdisciplinary field exploring the development of the visual system, the mechanisms of vision, and brain-related perceptual, cognitive and behavioral processes involving sight.Prioritizing and advancing visual science research is of great significance for promoting comprehensive eye health and implementing the Healthy China Strategy.This article first outlines the concept and research significance of visual science.It then highlights the key scientific questions in visual science pertaining to several major eye diseases, such as myopia, amblyopia, cataract, fundus diseases, glaucoma, and corneal diseases, reviews the historical foundation of visual science research in China, selectively summarizes key achievements and ongoing progress in this field, analyzes the landscape and challenges faced by domestic research, and proposes, to this end, strategies to advance visual science in China.These recommendations are designed to promote visual science research in China and ultimately advance comprehensive eye health.