What Is Low Vision?
As we age, we may notice that our vision starts to deteriorate. This is why it’s important to see your eyecare professional regularly, so they can check if there is a more serious underlying condition causing your eyes to deteriorate.
Most low vision issues are caused by:
- Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
- Diabetes
- Glaucoma
AMD affects your macula at the back of your eye, which is responsible for your central vision and often go unnoticed for years until the disease has already progressed. Most patients will initially notice blurred vision, difficulty making out details, distorted wavy lines, or a dark spot in their central vision. These may first appear as trouble reading, driving, recognizing faces, or distinguishing the world around you.
Many people may attribute these symptoms to ageing and delay seeing their optometrist, which has subsequently led to a sharp increase in the number of cases of AMD in the US.
It is believed that more than 2.95 million Americans suffer from some form of AMD, an increase of more than 50% since 2000, and this eye disease is known to be the leading cause of vision loss for seniors over the age of 60. The probability of developing AMD can be attributed to several environmental and biological factors including:
- Age
- Family history
- Race
- Gender
- Poor nutrition
- Smoking
- Heart conditions or high blood pressure
Vision Care for AMD
The best way to prevent and treat AMD is to visit your optometrist regularly. Without treatment, sufferers can experience long term vision impairment and irreversible blindness. This is where our low vision specialists come into the picture, both reviewing your eye health and recommending a customized management plan for your AMD.
We have sophisticated tools and training to identify what is causing your low vision, like our OCT scan, which can help to detect changes at the back of the eye, including early signs of AMD, allowing us to act quickly to diagnose you and find suitable treatment to slow down its progression.
There are also effective treatments available to slow down the progression of AMD and manage low vision in-house. We often advise those who suffer from, or are at risk of AMD, to take certain vitamin supplements to help promote a healthy macular and slow down progression, such as Zeaxanthin supplements.