Today we are going to talk about eye diseases faced by the elderly. There’s going to be a series of articles regarding different eye diseases because it’s not possible to cover all eye problems in one article.
Most people have eye problems at one time or another. Some are minor and will go away on their own or are easy to treat at home. Others need a specialist’s care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ”More than 4.2 million Americans aged 40 years and older are either legally blind (having best-corrected visual acuity of 6/60 or worse (=20/200) in the better-seeing eye) or are with low vision (having best-corrected visual acuity less than 6/12 (<20/40) in the better-seeing eye, excluding those who were categorized as being blind).”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States are primarily age-related eye diseases such as refractive errors, age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Other common eye disorders include amblyopia and strabismus.
Refractive errors occur when your eye doesn’t bend light the way it should. As a result, you see images out of focus. Refractive errors include eye disorders, such as astigmatism (disordered vision at any distance), hyperopia (farsightedness), and myopia (nearsightedness). Refractive errors also include presbyopia, the inability to focus on things up close, such as reading small print.
Refractive errors of the eye are the most common causes of visual disturbances in the United States. These are estimated prevalence rates for these disorders:
1. Astigmatism occurs in about one out of every three people in the United States.
2. Farsightedness occurs in about 8.4 percent of the population over the age of 40 (over 14.2 million people).
3. Nearsightedness occurs in about 23.9 percent of the population over 40 years old (about 34 million people).
4. Presbyopia makes it hard for middle-aged and older adults to see things up close
According to CDC corrective lenses can improve vision for people with any such disorders. If they can’t help you then in those cases surgery is imperative to improve your vision. Corrective lenses however remain the standard treatment approach for these disorders. The National Eye Institute states that proper refractive correction could improve vision among 150 million Americans.
The most common symptom of refractive errors is blurry vision. Other symptoms include:
1. Double vision
2. Hazy vision
3. Seeing a glare or halo around bright lights
4. Squinting
5. Headaches
6. Eye strain (when your eyes feel tired or sore)
7. Trouble focusing when reading or looking at a computer
If you wear glasses or contact lenses and still have these symptoms, you might need a new prescription. Talk to your eye doctor and get an eye exam if you are having trouble with your vision.
The main causes of refractive errors can be:
1. Eyeball length (when the eyeball grows too long or too short)
2. Problems with the shape of the cornea (the clear outer layer of the eye)
3. Aging of the lens (an inner part of the eye that is normally clear and helps the eye focus)
The treatment for refractive errors includes:
1. Glasses. Eyeglasses are the simplest and safest way to correct refractive errors. Your eye doctor will prescribe the right eyeglass lenses to give you the clearest possible vision.
2. Contacts. Contact lenses sit on the surface of your eyes and correct refractive errors. Your eye doctor will fit you for the right lenses and show you how to clean and wear them safely.
3. Surgery. Some types of surgery, like laser eye surgery, can change the shape of your cornea to fix refractive errors. Your eye doctor can help you decide if surgery is right for you.
If you are facing any health-related issues or need any assistance you can always contact Kandakacare. Our professional healthcare workers are fully qualified to assist you at home without risking your health.
We publish new and useful articles every week containing highly useful information about the elderly and how to make their lives easier and healthier. If you have an elderly person at home, we advise you to follow our weekly articles on our Kandaka Care page and also share it with your friends.
References:
1. Eye disorders and disease statistics according to CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basics/ced/index.html
