Cataracts - Eye Care for Seniors

by Karl Edmunds

Recently my mother called and gave me a sobering forecast.  She said if I live to reach the ripe age of 80 years old, it is almost a guarantee that I will experience a cataract or a clouding of the lens in one or both of my eyes.  This slow but almost assured deterioration in sight can at least be slowed or deferred with some basic eye care that every senior citizen over 50 should be doing.

Here is the tell tale signs of deterioration to look for.  According to optometrists, cataracts cause the lens of the eye to be cloudy and slowly make seeing a clear image difficult. Literally, lumps of protein material begin to build up on the lens of the eye until you begin to notice a blurring of your vision.  This is the most common condition. Another, less common occurrence is when the lens becomes discolored and negatively impacts your perception of color.

Some seniors will be more likely than others to have cataracts.  Those most prone are individuals that have diabetes, smokers, alcohol drinkers and people exposed to excessive amounts of sunlight. You may begin to notice unusual glare from different types of objects, double images or find your prescriptions for glasses changing more often than normal.

What is the treatment?

Most doctors agree the formation of cataracts can’t be stopped, but certainly deteriorating eyesight can be managed with consistent eye care checkups and updates to prescriptive glasses.  And if the loss of sight is severely degraded, some are exploring surgery to replace the clouded lens with a clear artificial lens. The surgery is generally safe to perform with 9 out of 10 patients experiencing better vision after the surgery. Logistically, the surgery can only be offered on one eye at a time with at least a month between procedures.

Caregivers should encourage seniors to protect their eyes and to live a healthy lifestyle. Early detection of any eye disease is critical for treatment, so a comprehensive eye exam once every two years is highly recommended.

Nursing home residents experience significantly higher rates of uncorrected vision errors compared to older people living in ordinary communities where care is often better. Higher rates of uncorrected vision among nursing home residents often leads to higher rates of depression. In the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology in 2007, a study revealed that depression in nursing homes can be significantly reduced once their visual errors were corrected simply using eyeglasses.

Other important eye care tips

Get a good night’s sleep and eat right:

• Why is getting a good night’s sleep so important? Good eye sight requires a healthy heart.  A healthy heart diminishes stress and other factors that can contribute to eye deterioration. And eating well including eye care supplements can slow the progress of various eye problems including cataracts.

Learn to relax your eyes

Our modern lifestyle in front of computer screens, electronic book readers, large screen televisions, poor lighting and bad air causes eye strain that may contribute to deterioration of the eye sight.

A simple approach to eye relaxation is to simply stop what you are doing periodically, cup your hands and cover your eyes making sure you don’t actually touch your eyes. Spend as much time as needed or available quietly with a focus on relaxing all the muscles of your eye.

At first you may sense no value to your time spent, but over time, you will notice an improvement. This technique is critical for people in jobs requiring intense eye strain or consistent exposure to computers. The lesson here is to pay attention and don’t take good vision for granted.

Many seniors regret not being better informed about fundamental eye care and for waiting too long to begin an active approach to eye care.

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