Learn what is normal for aging eyes, what may be a sign of disease, and how to compensate for changes. Age sometimes brings changes that weaken your eyes, but there are things you can do to maintain lifelong eye health and minimize the impact of age-related vision loss on daily life.
The solution may be as simple as using brighter lights around the house to help prevent accidents caused by weak eyesight or having your eye check-up more frequently to screen for age-related diseases.
Normal Age-Related Vision Changes
Not all declines in vision quality are the result of disease; certain anatomical changes naturally occur as the eyes age.
Common age-related vision complaints include:
- “I can’t see as clearly as I used to.”
- “I have difficulty seeing objects close up.”
- “Colors don’t seem as vivid.”
- “It’s getting more difficult to see in the dark.”
- “I’m less able to adapt to glare.”
- “I need more light to see.”
The most significant age-related changes seem to occur in the lens and the pupil; these account for the majority of vision limitations people experience as they get older.
Age-Related Eye Change
1. The pupil becomes smaller and less responsive to variations in light.
This result in having difficulty to see well in dim light condition and less tolerable glare becomes. The time for you to adapt from dark to light or vice versa become more difficult.
Proper lighting condition is needed to compensate for this change.
2. The lens of the eye begins to lose elasticity.
Losing flexibility in tendons and muscles make it harder for the lens to bend in order to focus on closely held objects. This loss of focusing power, or lens accommodation, is known as presbyopia.
Appropriate corrective devices such as reading glasses or multifocal can help you correctly see objects at close distance.
3. The lens of the eye gradually yellows with age.
The yellowing lens tends to absorb and scatter blue light which may affect color perception. Colors may seem duller, and contrasts between colors will be less noticeable.
Adjustment to lighting and warm color choices such as yellow and orange can help to improve your ability to differentiate things.
Eventually, the underlying process that causes lens yellowing may lead to cataract which may require surgical intervention.
What is Not a Normal Part of Aging
With age, it is very important to have regular eye examinations even if you are not experiencing any eye symptoms. Some eye changes may signal something more serious than age-related changes, such as an eye disease that needs medical treatment. Many eye diseases do not have warning symptoms but could be minimized or slowed with proper treatment. For example, although eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal detachment are often painless and the onset is gradual, they can greatly impair vision if not promptly treated.
Don’t hesitate to visit us at Malaya Optical Damansara Uptown and Subang SS15 to have your regular eye check-up by our professional optometrist. Appropriate corrective devices and referral can be made before it’s become too late to do so.
