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A few years
ago, Alyce turned 66 and noticed that
newspapers were getting harder to read.
She figured she needed stronger glasses to
get rid of the g lare and blurred vision.
Her family doctor referred her to me for
an eye check-up. When I told her that her
vision was not good enough to pass a
driver's test, she nearly fainted. She had
driven her own car to the appointment and
was visibly shaken.
Her vision had decreased gradually until
the best vision was eight lines away from
20/20. I still remember her saying, "How
can I have cataracts? I am not that old!"
Thank goodness she allowed us to remove
the cataracts a week later and restore her
vision. She has 20/20 vision today, and
she passed her driver's license test
without glasses.
When you think about growing old, what do
you imagine? Gray hair? Retirement?
Wrinkles? Social Security checks? Almost
no one has thought of losing his or her
vision. The prospect of losing your
eyesight is depressing and scary.
There are serious eye conditions that are
common, but treatable. The four most
common causes of loss of vision do not
have any symptoms of pain or pus or
bloodshotness. The patient hardly knows
that the vision is slowly, but
progressively getting dimmer. It takes an
eye exam to find that.
The good news is that the four leading
causes that we see threaten people's
vision and threaten their independence,
driving and reading are treatable. The
four causes are cataracts, glaucoma,
macular degeneration and diabetes. These
problems all get worse with age, but
treatment is available when found in time.
Actually, two other factors contribute to
the increased risk of going blind. That
is, lack of information and lack of money,
especially in our senior population. They
may not get an eye exam on a regular basis
or think poor vision has to be accepted
and ignore it.
The eye is like a camera that has a lens
and film inside to take the picture.
Anything that damages the lens, the film,
or raises the pressure too high could
cause enough damage to blind the eye
unless treated. The eye doctor needs to
see you to see what is wrong and to see
what treatment may be needed.
Four Leading Causes Of Vision Damage
A cataract is when the lens of the eye
turns cloudy. This blocks the pictures
from reaching your retina, which is like
the film in your camera. Almost 2 million
Americans get this each year.
Macular degeneration is damage to the
retina. It is like using old film in your
camera. The central portion (macula) ages,
and the center of everything we look at is
blurred like a thumb print in the exact
middle of our glasses.
Glaucoma is when there is too much
pressure inside the eye. When the pressure
builds up, it damages the retina and
nerve, and our side vision shrinks until
it is gone.
Diabetic retinopathy is the complication
that can occur in diabetics. The blood
vessels in the retina layer of the eye
weaken, leak and bleed. This can be like
dripping red paint on film inside a
camera. The vision gets blurred and could
even be totally lost.
The good news is that every one of these
conditions can be treated. However,
treatment only happens if you have an eye
exam. Treatment may remove the problem and
restore 20/20 vision, or keep the vision
the patient has and prevent blindness.
No one is ever too old to get his or her
vision back. Treatment today is simpler,
safer and more successful than ever.
Outpatient treatment as a day-surgery
patient for laser treatment has become
successful at restoring vision.
If you or someone you know is having
problems driving, reading or watching TV,
ask your family doctor or look in the
yellow pages to find an eye doctor and
have your eyes examined before it is too
late. You deserve to keep your vision and
your independence.
As for Alyce, she says: "If you call and
I'm not home, it's because I'm out
driving."
A reminder: January is Eye Health Care
Month. Stay tuned here for more important
information about protecting your sight. |
