Types of Senior Eye Care
As your eyes age, you're more likely to develop a wide variety of conditions that affect your eyes. At OptimEYES, senior eye care is one of the most important parts of our practice. The only way to diagnose eye disease is with a thorough eye exam, so we recommend that our patients over 50 come in for an examination once a year. As eyes get older, they get susceptible to a wide variety of diseases that are common to older people, but the quicker we can diagnose a problem, the sooner our optometrist can begin treating it.
Allentown Optometrist Talks About Common Senior Eye Conditions
Dr. Seema Mohanan, our Allentown optometrist, advises that it's difficult to get to old age without developing at least one serious eye condition. Years of UV exposure from the sun, combined with the damage done by televisions, computers and other digital devices, create the perfect environment for failing eyesight. During your eye exam in our office, our doctor will look for signs of these conditions:
- Glaucoma, which is caused by increased pressure inside the eyeball. We can treat it with prescription eye drops that lower pressure inside the eye.
- Macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss today, happens when the macula (the central part of the retina) begins to deteriorate. There is no cure, but lifestyle changes our doctor recommends can help slow the progress of the disease.
- Cataracts happen when protein inside the eye deposits on the surface of the eye's crystalline lens, causing yellowed or gauzy vision. Lifestyle changes can slow down the progression of the disease, and if it progresses to the point of affecting your everyday life, cataract surgery is a simple and straightforward answer.
- Diabetic retinopathy happens in patients with blood sugar that's out of control. In all but the worst cases, keeping your blood sugar under control is the best treatment.
An optometry examination is key to keeping your healthy eyesight as you age. If you haven't seen our optometrist in at least a year, call our office at (703) 687-4719 for an appointment.