Posts Tagged ‘cataracts’

Baby It’s Cold Outside!

Posted on: February 6th, 2014 by lowvision

The 2014 North American cold wave has certainly left its mark on the country. Record low temperatures and headlining snowstorms have made it miserable – and dangerous – to be outside. And for those with low vision, icy conditions can be particularly challenging while walking or driving.

Low vision issues like glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration often impact adults’ visual acuity, including contrast sensitivity and depth perception. When combined with icy weather, vision problems can lead to serious falls and life-threatening injury.

To prevent such occurrences, take extra care to assess your environment and stay indoors during precipitation like freezing rain and snow. Be sure to utilize various low vision devices and aides to maximize your remaining vision and restore some form of visual perception. Consider the following products to help you with vision tasks while indoors and out:

• Telescopes
• Hand held magnifiers
• Stand magnifiers
• Spectacle magnifiers
• All terrain canes
• Weather alert radios
• Low vision window pane thermometers

And don’t forget – beyond causing falls, ice and snow are dangerous to your eyes! Fresh snow reflects 85% of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, so shoveling snow or simply looking at it while walking can increase your UV exposure.

UV radiation can progress long-term vision problems like cataracts and macular degeneration, and can cause temporary but painful snow blindness in the winter. Fortunately, UV eye damage can be prevented by simply wearing UV-protective sunglasses. For adults with low vision, talk with your eye doctor about your prescription sunglass options.

Remember, taking extra eye health precautions in the winter can help you avoid falls and other weather-related injury.

How do you stay eye safe during the winter? Use these hashtags on Twitter and Facebook to tell us!

#polarvortex2014 #lowvision #UVrays #eyeseeyou

Tell Your Story

Posted on: September 24th, 2013 by lowvision

If you are one of the millions of Americans living with low vision, you have a story to tell. Your world has changed as your sight had changed. You are forced to change the way you do things, adapting your activities of daily living to accommodate for your vision changes. Low vision devices are instruments that you can use to help navigate this new world. But, which low vision device is right for you?

As with so many questions today, the answer is: it depends. It depends on your needs, wants, activity level, and allotted budget. One answer is certain, however, it all starts with your eye care provider. If your eye care provider is not a low vision specialist, ask them to recommend one. Alternately you can look at our doctor locator here to find one in your area.

When you go to see the low vision specialist it is important to TELL YOUR STORY. This includes sharing:

  • Medical history—optical health is related to overall health
  • Previous eye injuries
  • Current level of activity
  • What you want to do that you are having trouble doing because of diminished vision

The first three items are easy to explain. The fourth may require a bit of a reality check. Your vision is no longer perfect, and even with the best low vision devices on the market, you will not be able to see 20/20. But there are devices that can accommodate your specific wants and needs if you tell your specialist your story. For instance, if you love knitting, but stopped when your vision began to blur, there are low vision devices for that. If your passion is watching movies, there are devices for that as well. And if you want to be able to ride a bike or drive, there are even devices for this, depending on your visual capabilities and the laws in your state. There is a good chance that you will have to choose a few activities—you can’t have it all!

Once your low vision specialist knows your story—who you are, where you came from, and where you want to go—he or she will be able to help you select a low vision device that is right for you, and offer the proper training so you can use the device to optimize your remaining sight to accomplish your desired tasks.

To find out more about some low vision devices available, you can look on our website, here. This link shows some options that assist people who want to accomplish near tasks, intermediate-distance tasks, and long-distance tasks.

May is Healthy Vision Month

Posted on: May 10th, 2013 by lowvision

Your eyes are the windows to your health. Did you know that your eye care professional—through an eye exam— can observe blood vessels that show whether or not someone has diabetes, high blood pressure or small blood clots, has heart disease, might have had a stroke, and even some signs of some types of cancer?

This is why a comprehensive eye exam is important when you discover changes in your vision. If you are over the age of 60, an eye exam can help to determine the cause of your low vision. Low vision is a big problem with little awareness—currently, more than 2.9 million Americans suffer from low vision; it is most prevalent in people age 60+.

Low vision is a condition often coupled with a diagnosis of an aging eye disease—such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, cataracts –or other systemic and neurological diseases. With early diagnosis and treatment, many cases of low vision can be tremendously slowed or stopped in their tracks.

Individuals, their family, and friends should take notice when any vision loss begins to interfere with activities of daily living (ADLs)—cooking, driving, recognizing faces. Or if these individuals stop participating in a hobby—reading, knitting, crosswords—that they once loved due to a lowered ability caused by progressive loss of vision.

Whatever the level of decline, individuals with low vision can be helped to make the most use of their remaining vision, which leads to improving their quality of life, increased socialization, and even prolonged life span through vision rehabilitation and use of low vision devices (hi tech magnifiers).

So take some time during the month of May to evaluate your vision. If you find that it is changing, schedule an eye exam—your health depends on it.

For more information on Healthy Vision Month, dilated eye exams, or the National Eye Institute, visit http://www.nei.nih.gov/healthyeyes/.