Aging brings about a myriad of changes in a person’s body, and your vision is no exception. Your risk of eye-related problems, some very destructive, can increase significantly as you age. Retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, and dry eye are all issues that can compromise your vision if you are over 60. Follow these five tips for a long life of great eye health.

Healthy Diet and Exercise

Throughout life it is important to keep your weight and diet under control, but as you age this becomes even more critical. Eating well will keep certain health conditions at bay as well as fueling the body with quality ingredients. Consuming foods rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids help steer away cancers and other diseases. As an added bonus to fitness, exercise can substantially reduce your chances of macular degeneration.

Regular Eye Exam Schedule

Changes in your eyesight may seem to be a natural part of aging, but even subtle changes may be the early stages of a detrimental eye disease. Having a yearly eye exam will ensure your prescription is current and monitor your eye health. The earlier a problem is identified, the greater the potential for successful treatment.

Monitor Health Conditions

While cataracts and dry eye may seem inevitable consequences of aging, other manageable medical conditions can wreak havoc on your eye health. Diabetes and high blood pressure are two major culprits of disease-related eye damage. Keeping both in check can mean avoiding diabetic or hypertensive retinopathy, where the blood vessels in the retina are damaged. Retinopathy of either type can result in blindness.

Lighting

As you age and your vision diminishes, it is important to make sure you use adequate lighting for your activities. Reading or sewing in dim light places additional strain on your eyes, resulting in eye fatigue and irritation.

Wear Sunglasses

You may know of UV light being hazardous to your skin, but may not necessarily think about the damage it can cause to your eyes. Wearing sunglasses that are branded as having UV protection will help minimize your risk of developing cataracts plus reduce eye strain in bright conditions.

Some aspects of aging can be avoided simply by paying attention to your health and wellness. Have a regular medical and eye exam and treat yourself well. Following these simple guidelines can ensure your good eye health for many years to come!

Just as our physical strength decreases with age, our eyes also exhibit an age-related decline in performance – particularly as we reach our 60s and beyond.

Some age-related eye changes, such as presbyopia, are perfectly normal and don’t signify any sort of disease process. While cataracts can be considered an age-related disease, they are extremely common among seniors and can be readily corrected with cataract surgery.

Some of us, however, will experience more serious age-related eye diseases that have greater potential for affecting our quality of life as we grow older. These conditions include glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

When do age-related vision changes occur?

Presbyopia. After you pass the milestone age of 40, you’ll notice it’s more difficult to focus on objects up close. This normal loss of focusing ability is called presbyopia, and is due to hardening of the lens inside your eye.

For a time, you can compensate for this decline in focusing ability by just holding reading material farther away from your eyes. But eventually, you’ll need reading glasses, multifocal contact lenses or multifocal eyeglasses. Some corrective surgery options for presbyopia also are available, such as monovision LASIK and conductive keratoplasty (CK).

Cataracts. Even though cataracts are considered an age-related eye disease, they are so common among seniors that they can also be classified as a normal aging change. According to Mayo Clinic, about half of all 65-year-old Americans have some degree of cataract formation in their eyes. As you enter your 70s, the percentage is even higher. It’s estimated that by 2020 more than 30 million Americans will have cataracts.

Thankfully, modern cataract surgery is extremely safe and so effective that 100% of vision lost to cataract formation usually is restored. If you are noticing vision changes due to cataracts, don’t hesitate to discuss symptoms with your eye doctor. It’s often better to have cataracts removed before they advance too far. Also, multifocal lens implants are now available. These advanced intraocular lenses (IOLs) potentially can restore all ranges of vision, thus reducing your need for reading glasses as well as distance glasses after cataract surgery.

Major age-related eye diseases

Macular degeneration. Macular degeneration (also called age-related macular degeneration or AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among American seniors. According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), macular degeneration affects more than 1.75 million people in the United States. The U.S. population is aging rapidly, and this number is expected to increase to almost three million by 2020. Currently, there is no cure for AMD, but medical treatment may slow its progression or stabilize it.

Glaucoma. Your risk of developing glaucoma increases with each decade after age 40 – from around 1% in your 40s to up to 12% in your 80s. The number of Americans with glaucoma is expected to increase by 50% (to 3.6 million) by the year 2020. If detected early enough, glaucoma can often be controlled with medical treatment or surgery and vision loss can be prevented.

Diabetic retinopathy. According to the NEI, approximately 10.2 million Americans over age 40 are known to have diabetes. Many experts believe that up to 30% of people who have diabetes have not yet been diagnosed. Among known diabetics over age 40, NEI estimates that 40% have some degree of diabetic retinopathy, and one of every 12 people with diabetes in this age group has advanced, vision-threatening retinopathy. Controlling the underlying diabetic condition in its early stages is the key to preventing vision loss.

How aging affects other eye structures

While normally we think of aging as it relates to conditions such as presbyopia and cataracts, more subtle changes in our vision and eye structures also take place as we grow older. These changes include:

• Reduced pupil size.As we age, muscles that control our pupil size and reaction to light lose some strength. This causes the pupil to become smaller and less responsive to changes in ambient lighting.Because of these changes, people in their 60s need three times more ambient light for comfortable reading than those in their 20s. Also, seniors are more likely to be dazzled by bright sunlight and glare when emerging from a dimly lit building such as a movie theater. Eyeglasses with photochromic lenses and anti-reflective coating can help reduce this problem.
• Dry eyes. As we age, our bodies produce fewer tears. This is particularly true for women after menopause. If you begin to experience burning, stinging or other eye discomfort related to dry eyes, use artificial tears as needed throughout the day for comfort, or consult your eye doctor for other options such as prescription dry eye medications.
• Loss of peripheral vision. Aging also causes a normal loss of peripheral vision, with the size of our visual field decreasing by approximately one to three degrees per decade of life. By the time you reach your 70s and 80s, you may have a peripheral visual field loss of 20 to 30 degrees.

Because the loss of visual field increases the risk for automobile accidents, make sure you are more cautious when driving. To increase your range of vision, turn your head and look both ways when approaching intersections.

• Decreased color vision. Cells in the retina that are responsible for normal color vision decline in sensitivity as we age, causing colors to become less bright and the contrast between different colors to be less noticeable. In particular, blue colors may appear faded or “washed out.” While there is no treatment for this normal, age-related loss of color perception, you should be aware of this loss if your profession (for example, artist, seamstress or electrician) requires fine color discrimination.
• Vitreous detachment. As we age, the gel-like vitreous inside the eye begins to liquefy and pull away from the retina, causing “spots and floaters” and (sometimes) flashes of light. This condition, called vitreous detachment, is usually harmless. But floaters and flashes of light can also signal the beginning of a retinal detachment – a serious problem that can cause blindness if not treated immediately. If you experience flashes and floaters, see your eye doctor immediately to determine the cause.

What you can do about age-related vision changes

A healthy diet and wise lifestyle choices – including exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, reducing stress and not smoking – are your best natural defenses against vision loss as you age. Also, have regular eye exams with a caring and knowledgeable optometrist or ophthalmologist.

Be sure to discuss with your eye doctor all concerns you have about your eyes and vision. Tell them about any history of eye problems in your family and any health problems you may have. Also, let your eye doctor know about any medications you take, including non-prescription vitamins, herbs and supplements.

For more information on eye conditions and diseases, visit All About Vision®.

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Studies show that more than 14% of older Americans have dry eye syndrome, or “dry eye.” If you are 50 or older and female, your chance of developing dry eye is even greater. In fact, the American Academy of Ophthalmology says hormonal changes make older women twice as likely as older men to develop dry eye and accompanying symptoms such as eye irritation and blurred vision.

Women who have undergone menopause may experience disrupted chemical signals that help maintain a stable tear film. Resulting inflammation also can lead to decreased tear production and dry eye. Some theories indicate that a decline in a hormone known as androgen could be an underlying cause of dry eye in older women.

What Can You Do if You Are Older and Develop Dry Eye?

While levels of the female hormone estrogen also decrease following menopause, studies have not shown any beneficial effect of estrogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in relieving dry eye.

If you are over age 40 and have been diagnosed with dry eye, you may want to avoid laser vision correction surgery. Procedures such as LASIK and PRK can permanently affect nerve function of your eye’s clear surface (cornea) and worsen dry eye problems. If you choose to have a refractive surgery consultation, be sure to tell your examining eye doctor about your dry eye condition. Your doctor can perform special tests to determine if your eyes are moist enough for laser vision correction.

If you have already been diagnosed with dry eyes, make sure you are being appropriately treated for other conditions associated with both aging and dry eye such as rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid autoimmune disease.

Also, keep in mind that many medications required by adults over age 40 may cause or worsen dry eye problems. Examples include diuretics (often prescribed for heart conditions) and antidepressants. If you suspect a medication may be the underlying cause of your dry eye, be sure to discuss this with your doctor. It’s possible that changing to a different medical treatment may be equally effective without causing dry eye problems. Also, concurrent treatment of your dry eye may be necessary.

Finally, it’s possible that allergies or other problems that cause eye inflammation may be the underlying cause of your dry eye symptoms. Your eye doctor may recommend over-the-counter or prescription eye drops to relieve both your eye allergies and inflammatory dry eye problems.

For more information on treating dry eyes, visit All About Vision®.

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Sight-threatening eye problems affect one in six adults aged 45 and older. And the risk for vision loss increases with age. In fact, a recent American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) report estimates that more than 43 million Americans will develop age-related eye diseases by the year 2020.

Tips for protecting your eyes

To protect your eyesight and keep your eyes healthy as you age, consider these simple guidelines:

1. Be aware of your risk for eye diseases. Find out about your family’s health history. Do you or any of your family suffer from diabetes or have high blood pressure? Are you over the age of 65? Are you an African-American over the age of 40? Any or all of these traits increase your risk for sight-threatening eye diseases. Regular eye exams can detect problems early and help preserve your eyesight.
2. Have regular exams to check for diabetes and high blood pressure. If left untreated, these diseases can cause eye problems. In particular, diabetes and high blood pressure can lead to diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma and ocular hypertension.
3. Look for changes in your vision. If you start noticing changes in your vision, see your eye doctor immediately. Trouble signs include double vision, hazy vision and difficulty seeing in low light conditions. Other signs to look for are frequent flashes of light, floaters, and eye pain and swelling. All of these signs and symptoms can indicate a potential eye health problem that needs immediate attention.
4. Exercise more frequently. According to the AAO, some studies suggest that regular exercise – such as walking – can reduce the risk of macular degeneration by up to 70%.
5. Protect your eyes from the sun’s UV rays. You should always wear sunglasses with proper UV protection to shield your eyes from the sun’s harmful rays. This may reduce your risk of cataracts and other eye damage.
6. Eat a healthy and balanced diet. Numerous studies have shown that antioxidants can possibly reduce the risk of cataracts. These antioxidants are obtained from eating a diet containing plentiful amounts of fruits and colorful or dark green vegetables. Studies have also shown that eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids may also prevent macular degeneration.
7. Get your eyes checked at least every two years. A thorough eye exam, including dilating your pupils, can detect major eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, which has no early warning signs or symptoms. A comprehensive eye exam also can ensure that your prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses is accurate and up-to-date.
8. Don’t smoke. The many dangers of smoking have been well documented. When it comes to eye health, people who smoke are at greater risk of developing age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

Following these steps is no guarantee of perfect vision throughout your lifetime. But maintaining a healthy lifestyle and having regular eye exams will certainly decrease your risk of sight-stealing eye problems and help you enjoy your precious gift of eyesight to the fullest.

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