It can be difficult to watch the decline in your parent’s quality of vision. Being able to see is such a large part of life for someone who has enjoyed relatively good vision for most of their life. They really need your love and support more during this time than ever before.
Understanding age related macular degeneration (AMD)
Understanding what your parent is going through will help you know how to better help them and relate to their needs. Here are some quick facts about AMD:
- Leading cause of severe vision loss for seniors 60+ years
- The macula or central part of the retina deteriorates
- The retina is nerve tissue at the back of the eye that senses light
- The disease develops with age
- Is not totally blinding, however can disable sight to a significant extent
- In the dry form there are little yellow plaques that cause blind spots in the center of vision; later, central vision could be totally lost.
- In the wet form there are abnormal blood vessels that cause distortion of vision, blind spots, and ultimately the loss of central vision
- The person should visit their eye doctor regularly
Risk factors for developing the disease are:
- Possibly a hereditary factor
- Smoking
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Obesity
- Light skin tone
- Female
- Light eye colors
It’s never too late to change lifestyle habits for the better! If your parent is at risk for AMD or has already started to develop it, she should see her eye doctor, stop smoking, lose excess weight, take vitamin supplements and minerals, eat adequate sources of omega-3 fats and follow any other protocols set out by her eye doctor and general practitioner.
If you want to get a good idea of what it looks like to see through the lens of AMD, go to www.webmd.com and select eye health and then enter see what eye see: spotting vision problems. Whether AMD is what your loved one is suffering from or some other type of eye disease, you can view pictures that look like what your loved one can see or not see.
How elderly home care can help
Your aging dear one will start to lose confidence in the things she can do as her eyesight fails. Having a caregiver will help her retain as much independence as possible by allowing her to remain in her own home. Her home is a familiar place where she could almost find her way around blindfolded. Can you imagine the awful shock it would be to her and the blow in emotional well-being if she had to be moved to long-term care somewhere because of her sight condition?
Research has shown that elders who stay in their own homes to age in place enjoy longer, healthier and happier lives.
Contact us for elderly care and companionship. For more information about elderly care services, call 905-709-1767.
About Susan Di Michele
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