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Aging Eye
As the eye ages certain changes occur
that can be attributed to solely the aging
process. Most of these anatomic and
physiologic processes follow a gradual
decline. Although these processes are
distinct from the aging eye diseases, the
vision changes they produce may be
similar.
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| Aging Eye |
Vision changes
With aging, the quality of vision worsens
due to reasons independent of aging eye
diseases. The area of the pupil governs
the ammount of light that can reach the
retina. The extent to which the pupil
dilates also decreases with age. Because
of the smaller pupil size, older eyes
receive much less light at the retina. In
comparison to younger people, it is as
though older persons were wearing
medium‐density sunglasses in bright
light and extremely dark glasses in dim
light.
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| Visual Changes |
To maximize the light entering the eye,
make sure that your eye glasses have
anti‐reflective coating. Anti‐reflective
lens coatings significantly reduce surface
reflectance and allow greater light
transmission through the lens. When AR
coating is applied to both the front and
back surfaces of a lens, the percentage of
transmitted light increases to
approximately 99% (compared to 90‐
92% with non‐ARC lenses).
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| Retinal Changes |
Aging causes a dramatic slowing in dark
adaptation. Color vision changes cause
some reduction of ability to discriminate
blues and blue‐greens. The yellowing of
the lens is believed to be responsible for
this effect. The aging lens and cornea
causes glare by light scattering,
especially for shorter wavelengths.
Aberrations of cornea also increase with
age, leading to poor vision especially
when the pupil dilates as in the dark.
The most aggravating aspect of vision in
an older person seems to be the feeling
that it does not work as effortlessly or as
quickly as it did in younger days. They
must concentrate harder and require
higher levels of illumination than they
formerly did in order to have the same
perceptual results.
Lighting on the way
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| Lighting on the way |
Naked bulbs:
These are worst for older
eyes, producing a glare that can be
disorienting and painful.
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| Naked Bulb |
Task lighting:
Light should be focused on the work, not
toward the eyes. A good choice is a CFL
with electronic ballast that starts up
without flickering.
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| Task Lighting |
Bathroom lighting:
Lots of light should be provided
overhead and even in the shower, where
accidents are particularly common.
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| Bathroom Lighting |
Anatomic changes
Aging causes laxity and downward shift
of eyelid tissues and atrophy of the orbital fat. These changes contribute to
the etiology of several eyelid disorders
such as ectropion, entropion,
dermatochalasis, and ptosis. The higher
eyelid skin crease and ptosis may be due
to age related disinsertion of the levator
muscle aponeurosis, and to involutional
atrophy of the orbital fat. The horizontal
eyelid fissure shortens by about 10%
with aging. With aging a prominent white
ring develops in the periphery of the
cornea‐ called arcus senilis. The corneal
endothelial cells gradually decrease in
number. The vitreous gel undergoes
liquefaction and its opacities ‐ visible as
floaters gradually increase in number.
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| Anatomic Changes |
Aging Eye Diseases
Cataract:
clouding or opacity of the normally
transparent lens inside the eye. It
prevents the light rays passing onto the
retina. The picture that the retina
receives becomes dull and fuzzy. The
normal process of aging causes the lens
to harden and become cloudy (opaque).
This is called age‐related cataract and it
is the most common type. It can occur
anytime after the age of 45 years.
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| Cataract |
Glaucoma:
Glaucoma (kala‐motia, kala‐
paani) is a serious condition that
involves an elevation in pressure inside
the eye caused by a build‐up of excess
fluid. Left untreated, this pressure can
impair vision by causing irreversible
damage to the optic nerve and,
eventually, blindness.
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| Glaucoma |
Macular Degeneration (ARMD):
The macula is the part of the retina, which
provides us with central vision and
allows us to see fine detail, such as
recognizing a face, reading, or watching
television.
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| ARMD Visual Changes |
Macular Degeneration is a
condition in which the macula gets
damaged. It is often related to aging, and
is commonly referred to as Age‐related
Macular Degeneration (AMD).
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| ARMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration) |
Presbyopia:
If you have presbyopia, you
have the loss of the ability to focus up
close that occurs as you age. Most people
are between 40 and 50 years when they
realize for the first time that they can’t
read objects close to them.
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| Presbyopia |
Macular Hole:
A macular hole is a small
break in the macula, located in the center
of the eye's light‐sensitive tissue called
the retina. A macular hole can cause
blurred and distorted central vision.
Macular holes are related to aging and
usually occur in people over age 60. It is
4 times more common in females.
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| Macular Hole |
Diabetic Eye Disease:
Retinopathy is usually due to damage to vessels in retina. Retinopathy is usually caused by Diabetes (DM), but is sometimes caused by other diseases such as high BP.
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| Diabetic Eye Anatomy |
Dry Eye:
The most common cause of dry
eye is a failure of the glands in your
eyelids to produce tears, which often
occurs as part of the ageing process.
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| Dry Eye Changes |
The real problem of blindness is not the
loss of eyesight. The real problem is the
misunderstanding and lack of
information that exist. If a blind person
has proper training and opportunity,
blindness can be reduced to a physical
nuisance.
Conclusion:-
In this article you learn about ARMD | Aging Eye | Age Related Macular Degeneration | Aging Eye Diseases | Dry Eye and many more. If you have any queries regarding this article and suggestions for this please leave a comment and also if you have any queries please sent me a mail. Which is in our contact us page.
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