As we age, our eyesight, along with most of our bodily functions, will begin to decline. This is an inevitable part of aging, but like exercise, lifestyle choices, and diet can help to decrease the impact of age on other parts of the body, preventative care can greatly help reduce the severity of age-related vision problems.
Age-Related Eye Disorders
Common problems with aging eyes include:
Glaucoma, a disorder that slowly destroys your vision and can lead to total blindness
Dry-eye syndrome, a problem with tear production that can lead to chronically dry, irritated eyes
Age-related macular degeneration, in which the waste produced by cones and rods in your retina is no longer properly removed, leading to eventual blindness
Cataracts, caused by clumps of protein molecules that dim vision
Through regular eye examinations with an experienced ophthalmologist, these problems can be detected and treated to slow their progress and greatly reduce future complications.
Blindness
A consequence of many age related vision disorders is blindness. Blindness may affect one or both eyes, and it may be legal, which may be treatable, or total, which involves damage to the optic nerve and cannot be treated, but in every case, it will drastically impact your life. After the age of 45, having an experienced ophthalmologist perform regular eye exams is the most effective way to ensure small problems do not become major issues. Several options exist to help correct and treat the myriad vision problems that can affect you as you age, but only if these diseases are caught in time can they be effectively treated.
Treatment
There is no reversing the process of aging, but several options exist to help prolong vision, and reduce complications associated with aging eyes. An increase in certain vitamins, medications, and surgery can all be utilized by your ophthalmologist to treat age-related vision disorders. While some disorders are not curable, early detection can lead to treatments that will delay the deterioration and could possibly prevent debilitating vision problems like blindness from occurring.
