OBJECTIVES: Among the societal costs of visual impairment in Japan, cost of both unpaid and paid home care for people with visual impairment has been estimated as a substantial component of indirect cost. However, the degree of burden among individuals caring for visually impaired patients remains unknown. The study objective is to outlook the instruments currently available for measuring caregiver burden for visually impaired patients and to identify whether linguistic validation has been done in Japan. METHODS: We performed a literature review on articles describing instruments of caregiver reported outcomes for eye disorders. We summarized the current evidence on the usefulness of the instruments and whether they differentiate between eye diseases and other non-eye related diseases. In addition, we investigated possible hurdles in measuring caregiver burden in eye disorders, given the environmental understandings of patients with visual impairments and their caregivers in Japan. RESULTS: We identified two caregiver burden measurements, one depression measurement, and one life-satisfaction scale used in studies for measuring caregiver outcome for patients with visual impairments. A few studies using these instruments demonstrated correlation between the degree of caregiver burden and/or level of depression and severity of visual impairments. Excluding one caregiver burden instrument, Japanese versions of the remaining three instruments have been developed and validated. However, realistic use of these instruments are still questionable because: 1) most of the patients with visual impairments in Japan are elderly and  increased caregiver burden may be due to conditions associated with older age, and 2) aging of caregivers are also progressing, resulting in increased perceived caregiver burden to support the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence is limited when measuring the impacts of eye diseases on their caregivers. Further research is required to identify the usefulness of these instruments to measure caregiver burden for patients with eye diseases in Japan.