Long Term Eyecare
As
you grow older, your eyes lose their ability to work well. You may notice problems
like threading a needle or reading a phone book . This is called Presbyopia, and
it gets worse as you get older, fortunately spectacles will help.
There are a number of other eye conditions which your optician has been trained to identify. Some of these conditions develop very slowly, so slowly that you may not even notice them. A regular eye examination can catch problems early, when they are easier to treat.
Diabetes
This
can cause damage to the back of the eye, even if the disease is being treated.
Diabetics can have an annual examination free of charge on the NHS.
Cataracts
The
lens inside your eye becomes opaque, and your eyesight becomes dim & hazy.
Common in the over 60's and treated by a minor operation. Glare can be a problem
in the early stages and tinted glasses can
help this problem.
Glaucoma
The
common form of glaucoma has no obvious early symptoms, so it is important visit
your optician regularly. If you are over 40, and have a relative who suffers from
this disease the examination will be paid for under the NHS (under current NHS
regulation as of March 2000). The acute form is very painful- go straight to the
Eye Hospital. The pressure of the liquid inside the eye rises, and can damage
the optic nerve.
The good news is that it can easily be treated.
Lenses for life
Normal healthy young eyes have a wide range of focus from
the far distance to a few centimetres. In a
young eye, the lens is very flexible.
As we get older, the lens of the eye thickens and slowly loses its
flexibility
leading to a gradual decline in our ability to focus on objects that are close-up.
This loss of
focusing ability is called PRESBYOPIA. It is not a disease but
a normal and expected change which
sooner or later affects everyone, whether
they already wear contact lenses and spectacles or not. It does
not occur
suddenly. Around the age of 40 to 45, we begin to realise that we are holding
the newspaper
further away or we need more light to read the telephone directory.
What should we do?
Lenses you might opt for are bifocal lenses with a
line or progressive or varifocal lenses (some people call
them bifocals without
lines). These lenses progress gradually from distance strength at the top to reading
strength at the bottom, giving a range of focusing strength in between and are
becoming very popular.
