5 Tips for Preserving Your Vision as You Age
We joke about needing longer arms for reading as we age, but the reality is that most everyone’s vision and eye health can weaken and change as they grow older. Here are some tips to slow that process.
You used to feel perfectly comfortable driving at night, but now you struggle because of glaring lights and halos around lights. And you’re in your 20s, so age has nothing to do with it. If this sounds familiar, an uncommon condition called keratoconus may be to blame.
At Vision and Ortho-K, Dr. Curtis Frank has had decades of experience helping patients with keratoconus. In this month’s blog post, we want to take a closer look at this condition and how we can help you see more clearly again.
Under ideal circumstances, your corneas (the front part of your eyes) feature a nice round shape that allows light to enter your eye and focus correctly on your retina. With keratoconus, your corneas thin and bulge out, distorting the light that enters your eyes which interferes with your vision.
In most cases, keratoconus begins in late adolescence or the early 20s, and this early development is one of the first clues in helping to diagnose keratoconus.
The other clues include the following the symptoms:
These symptoms typically progress slowly over the course of 10-20 years before they slow. Symptoms can be worse in one eye than the other, but both eyes are usually affected.
Unfortunately, we don’t know why some people develop keratoconus. We have established some links, however, such as the fact that 1 out of 10 people with the eye condition have a family member with the same problem.
As well, keratoconus may be linked to frequent eye rubbing, in addition to certain conditions, such as asthma and Down’s syndrome.
If you suspect you or a loved one might have keratoconus, a quick trip to one of our offices will provide an immediate answer. We can easily measure the curvature of your corneas to determine whether keratoconus is present.
If your keratoconus is creating vision issues, we can turn to specialty contact lenses to help you see more clearly. These lenses include ortho-k lenses that reshape your corneas at night or scleral lenses, which are much larger and cover more of your eye.
If wearing contact lenses proves difficult, we can outfit you with prescription glasses that will improve your vision and even remove some of the glare.
If your keratoconus is advanced and causing serious issues, we can discuss whether a corneal transplant or a procedure called collagen cross-linking might be appropriate for you.
The bottom line is that we do have options when it comes to restoring your vision on the heels of keratoconus.
If you suspect you might have keratoconus and you’d like expert diagnosis and treatment of the eye condition, schedule an appointment at one of our offices in Boston or Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts.
