Please consult your doctor or regular health physician before following suggestions found in any Sun Day health columns/stories.
As we grow older, it is normal for our eyes to change. John Hopkins Medical Publication (Sept. 2013) tells us “Advancing age also puts you at risk for more serious eye diseases, as do chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. Age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma are among the most common causes of serious visual impairment, and their frequency is rising.”
Researchers at John Hopkins who studied eye disease trends in our country over a 10-year period suggest the increase in these cases known as low vision may be partly due to an increase in diabetes, a risk factor associated with loss of vision.
The most common cause of vision loss for those over 65 is age-related macular degeneration. According to Enhanced Vision Magazine’s Patient Information Guide to Low Vision, “AMD is a degenerative disease of the retina that causes progressive loss of vision in the center of the eye.”
In advanced stages, a spot or blurry space appears in the middle of one’s vision. Words on a page are blurred, and straight lines may appear to be wavy. Objects may seem smaller than they actually are. Dry AMD results when yellow-white deposits (drusen) accumulate under the macula or central portion of the retina. Treatment of high dose vitamins and minerals may reduce the progression to Wet AMD.
Wet AMD, which advances more rapidly than Dry AMD, is the result of abnormal blood vessel growth under the macula which leaks fluid that damages the eye’s photoreceptor cells located there. Monthly or bi-monthly injections of drugs is used to inhibit growth of these blood vessels.
“While it significantly reduces vision, AMD does not cause total blindness,” according to the magazine. Risk factors include family history, smoking, and race.
Cataracts occur when the protein that makes up the eye’s lens becomes clumped. In the United States, cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure, where the defective lens is replaced by an artificial lens implant. Without this highly successful surgery, most cataracts will continue to cause the eye to blur vision and often void certain colors. Risk factors are age, prolonged use of corticosteroids, alcohol use, smoking, diabetes, and excessive sunlight exposure.
Uncontrolled diabetes for a long period of time is responsible for diabetic retinopathy, where high blood glucose levels damage the retina’s small blood vessels.
Diabetic macular edema and proliferative retinopathy are other features of diabetic retinopathy that can be managed with injections of medicine and laser and direct surgery on the retina. All diabetics should try to control their disease, their blood pressure, their cholesterol, and have regular physical and eye checkups.
Glaucoma occurs when pressure inside the eye damages the optic nerve. Normally symptoms don’t occur until the disease is in its advanced stages, where there is a loss of peripheral vision, blind spots, seeing blurred vision and colored rings, pain, and eye redness. The most common form, open-angle glaucoma, can be treated as quickly as possible with eye drops and/or laser surgery to prevent the disease’s progression. Lifelong management is necessary. Risk factors include “corticosteroid use, diabetes, a thin cornea, race, and a family history of glaucoma,” according to John Hopkins.
If you live in Sun City and have one of the debilitating eye diseases mentioned above, you are invited to the newly revised vision support group. Formerly known as V.I.E.W.S and sponsored by Centegra’s Wellness Center, it is now known as M’Eye Low Vision Group.
The group will hold its first “meet and greet” at the Fountain View breakout room on Monday, August 19, at 10 a.m. Bonnie Hibel and Marlene Pilger invite you to “enjoy an ‘eye’ need to know an exchange of information.” They invite you to “share experiences that will enhance your lives.”
Discussion will conclude with questions and answers and social time. For any questions and responses to the invite, contact Bonnie at 847-515-3778 or bhibel@sbcglobal.net or Marlene at 847-515-8071 or mpilger@aol.com.
• Part 2 (August 29 Edition): How M’Eye Low Vision Group can continue to help you and your low vision!
