Low vision care in the medical sector has been spreading throughout Japan. The terms “low vision care” and “low vision rehabilitation” are often used interchangeably in this sector. Initially, low vision care was difficult to disseminate as its provision was time and manpower consuming and not covered by insurance. Under these circumstances and after repeated requests from related organizations, in 2012 the national health insurance policy was revised to cover low vision services provided in ophthalmology units. Therefore, to investigate the extent to which the care had increased, we conducted questionnaire surveys twice: immediately after the revision and eight years later. The participants in the surveys were ophthalmologists who had completed the training course, which is mandatory for insurance cover. We found from the ophthalmology units who responded that the percentage of those providing low vision services increased from 66.1% to 90.9% in the eight-year period, and that the two main professions of the service providers were ophthalmologists and certified orthoptists. For low vision care to be distributed nationwide, increasing the number of ophthalmologists and certified orthoptists as well as enhancing networks of resources in relevant fields in each region are just two recommendations.

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