As with many issues involving the human body, each person’s vision eventually begins to deteriorate, whether we anticipate it or not. Even when someone has had the good fortune of experiencing perfect vision their whole life, they will, at some point, start to experience problems. As we age, some may experience greater problems than others, including age-related eye disease that requires attention.
Regular Eye Care Appointments: A Simple Solution
For those who live in and around Boulder County, Colorado and are starting to experience glaucoma and cataracts, it is important to make and keep regular vision appointments to ensure that a small problem does not quickly spiral out of control. Regular eye care appointments will help aging people and seniors avoid losing their driver’s licenses, putting themselves in danger by the inability to see clearly (leading to a misstep and fall), or any number of other possible dangers that can result from impaired vision. Whether one starts to worry about their vision due to an advancement in age or they simply know it’s time to start taking good care of their eyes, making an appointment with an eye specialist is critical to maintaining good eyesight. Unless a patient has already started to note specific issues and symptoms that affect their eyesight and may prove to be more serious, a yearly eye exam with a specialist may be all that is needed.
What to Expect from Your Annual Appointment
The annual examination generally consists of various testing — particularly if the patient suspects they have a distinct problem with their vision. Tests often include eye muscle movement testing, cover/uncover testing, external eye examination and pupillary testing, visual acuity testing, eye pressure testing, and others, depending on the patient’s symptoms and health condition. During an examination and workup, eye care physicians are generally looking for conditions that include age-related macular degeneration, cataracts and glaucoma.
Common Age-related Conditions
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the primary cause for blindness among seniors, so eye care specialists are especially diligent about trying to catch this condition early. If this is caught early enough in its process, specific measures will be taken to significantly slow the disease’s progress.
Glaucoma is another condition that can easily slip past the radar, but with regular eye checkups, doctors can catch this condition early and work to slow and manage its progress. An increase or rise in eye pressure is a clear indication that immediate measures need to be taken, often saving one’s eyesight. However, there are other indications that can only be detected with specific imaging equipment, like those with glaucoma who actually have eye pressure within a normal range.
Cataracts develop as we age and are often unavoidable. This common condition presents itself as clouding, blurring, and yellowing of one’s vision, affecting one or both eyes. Although not high-risk, and lending itself to short recovery time, cataract surgery may be avoided by visiting your eye doctor annually and keeping your vision prescription current.
If you have questions about your eye care or have begun to notice issues with your vision, please contact us here at the Eye Care Center of Northern Colorado to schedule an appointment with one of our caring, capable doctors.