Holding that book at arm’s length so you can make out the type? Complaining to your friends that the road signs are smaller than they used to be?
Those are some of the vision problems you may notice as the years go by and you become part of the growing population of those over the age of 65.
Some vision problems are fairly easy to correct, others are more serious. Here’s an outline of four of the more common serious conditions:
- Age-related macular degeneration. Nobody knows the cause, but it can cause legal blindness or vision impairment. Basically, the condition impacts the retina. It comes in two forms, wet and dry. High-dose antioxidants and zinc can slow the progress of the dry version. The wet version can be helped by laser surgery and drugs.
- Cataracts. Again, this is a condition that appears in those who are aging, and the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. Exposure to sunlight, smoking, diet and alcohol consumption are thought to be possible causes. The usual treatment in the United State is surgery to remove the lens. More than a million people a year undergo such surgery.
- Diabetic retinopathy. Retinal blood vessels break down and affect vision. It can strike anyone with diabetes, but the longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to have this condition. Laser treatment is thought to help avoid loss of sight.
- Glaucoma. This disorder causes degeneration of the cells in the optic nerve. It creeps up on its victims slowly, and many do not even notice it at first, by which time the disease has already caused nerve damage. Nobody is sure of the cause, but the good news is that it can be controlled by medicine, laser treatment or surgery. But none of those things will restore vision you’ve already lost.
The list of more serious disorders leaves out the most common vision issue in the United States, those that are technically called refractive errors, but which are more commonly known as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. The most common remedies: eye glasses, contact lenses or surgery.
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