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Blindness from Aging Eye Diseases on the Rise

By Betty Gibb, Kansas Senior Press Service
A project of the KU Center on Aging

Information strikes us most pointedly and makes us take notice when it applies directly to us. In general, I know that my eyes are very important, that in my late 40s I had to get reading glasses, that because I’m diabetic I need to be examined more frequently. Given that general knowledge, I must admit to thinking very little about the specifics of eye care. Two things recently caught me up short: My ophthalmologist said at my last appointment, “You’re beginning to have just a little bit of diabetic retinopathy, let’s put you on a six-month recall instead of a year.” This week I read a headline in something called AgingEye Times that said: “More Americans than ever face the threat of blindness from aging eye diseases.” Time to read and research a little—and as a journalist--time to share what I’ve learned.

First from AgingEye Times: “The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness in the U.S. are primarily age-related eye diseases:

The number of Americans with age-related eye disease is expected to double within the next three decades.”
Some over-simplified definitions (that’s what we journalists do.)

Cataract
A cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. The lens works much like a camera lens, focusing light onto the retina at the back of the eye. The lens also adjusts the eye's focus, letting us see things clearly both up close and far away.

The lens is mostly made of water and protein. The protein is arranged in a precise way that keeps the lens clear and lets light pass through it. But as we age, some of the protein may clump together and start to cloud a small area of the lens. This is a cataract, and over time, it may grow larger and cloud more of the lens, making it harder to see.

Age-related macular degeneration
AMD steals vision from the center of the eye outward. People with light-colored eyes are most at risk, because the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays can penetrate the retina at the back of the eye more easily. There are two types. In the “dry” form, light-sensitive cells in the macula, the center of the retina, gradually break down. The “wet” form is less common but causes more rapid damage, as blood vessels leak behind the retina. Laser therapies can seal off the wet form’s leakage.

Glaucoma
Glaucoma steals vision from the outside in, with gradual damage to the optic nerve that first destroys peripheral vision. Here, for unknown reasons, people with darker eyes are more at risk, as are dark-skinned races. Lost vision can’t be restored, but after diagnosis, eye drops or laser therapy almost always preserves remaining sight.

Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication in which retinal blood vessels break, leak or become blocked, causing spotty vision. It can affect young people who have had diabetes from birth, but most diabetics are middle-age or older and retinopathy risk increases with age. Lasers can seal off blood vessels about to harm vision, making close monitoring crucial.

What to do? See your eye doctor regularly—at least once every two years if you’re not especially at risk—once a year if you are.

In eye care, like all forms of medical treatment, there are wonderful new approaches to saving and improving sight, but the doctor can’t help you unless you make an appointment and get a thorough eye exam. Been putting it off? Imagine yourself blind for a few minutes—then get out your magnifying glass and look up the doctor’s number.

My next appointment is in July, when is yours?

 

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