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Eyecare Knowledge

Vision Care & Optical Needs for Different Age Groups

Infant, teenage & learning age

  • Ensure normal ocular structural development which does not impede vision development, otherwise, may lead to amblyopia or even permanent visual impairment

  • Regular eye checks and renew prescriptions for eyeglasses

  • Control myopic progression, avoid the risks of suffering from various eye diseases due to high myopia when they become grown-ups

Working age

  • Deal with computer vision syndrome and enable you to work at ease

  • Based on the needs at work or in daily life, select suitable eyeglasses, sunglasses and/or contact lenses

Aged 40 or above

  • Aware of the problem of presbyopia, select suitable eyeglasses such as progressive lenses, reading glasses and/or both

  • Because of the growing risks of suffering from various kinds of eye diseases such as glaucoma, cataract, macular degeneration, etc., need to pay more attention to eye health

Myopic

  • Other than prescription check, need to be aware of retinal heath status regularly to avoid visual impairment due to myopic retinopathy

  • The risk of having eye diseases for people who are highly myopic (-6.00D or above) is 200 times that of people with normal vision

Contact lens users

  • Have regular eye check on exterior eye health, such as cornea, conjunctiva, etc., to avoid allergy and corneal hypoxia due to long-term contact lens wear which eventually affects eye health

People suffering from hypertension and diabetes

  • Monitor  regularly whether there are signs of diabetic retinopathy or hypertensive retinopathy and

  • Moitor regularly other eye diseases caused by diabetes and hypertension, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, etc.

Common eye diseases

Glaucoma

Glaucoma got its nickname "The Silent Thief of Sight".  It is the no.1 eye disease leading to vision loss.  There are misunderstandings that this disease is found among the elderly only.  In fact, people in different age groups also are at risk.  It may lead to progressive loss of vision, tunnel vision or even total blindness.

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There are two types of glaucoma, i.e. acute and chronic.  People with acute glaucoma will have severe eye pain, headache, nausea or throw up.  There are no obvious signs of open-angle glaucoma at first.  Vision becomes narrow and blurry eventually without any signs.  If not discovered and treated until latter stage, the damaged optic nerve will not be recovered and may cause blindness.

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There are some cases that patients realized they were suffering from this eye disease until there were chronic visual impairments.  Loss of vision is irreversible, therefore, regular eye exams are recommended to safeguard eye health.

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Nowadays, technologies are becoming more advanced.  Other than the traditional intraocular pressure measurement, we can make use of the state-of-the-art equipment like Retinal Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) which measures the thickness of optic nerves on the retina and greatly helps diagnose the early signs of glaucoma and thus, treatment could be given in a timely manner.

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Who are at high risk of suffering from glaucoma?

  • With family case history of glaucoma

  • Highly myopic

  • People with high intraocular pressure

  • People having cataract

  • People having diabetes

  • Persistent usage of steroids without proper guidance will also heighten the risk

Cataract

Cataract is the clouding of the natural lens in the eye which leads to the change in density, results in changes in the precriptions of myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism.  It comes with decreasing vision, trouble with bright lights and will lead to geat troubles in daily lives.

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At the early stage, patients are not necessary to have surgery.  Their vision may be corrected and enhanced with eyeglasses which could improve their daily lives.

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Common symptoms of cataract:

  • Gradual blurry vision

  • Double vision of images

  • Faded colours of objects

 

Two primary concerns for whether to have a cataract surgery:

1）If worsening vision reaches the level that significantly affects the patient's quality of life even with prescription eyeglasses or the vision will not be good even with new eyeglasses

2）Will cataract cause other eye diseases such as glaucoma, etc?

 

Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration is the retinopathy due to aging.  It is the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in people over age 55.  It occurs when the central portion of the retina, known as macula, deteriorates.  Because the disease develops as a person ages, it is often referred to as age-related macular degeneration and is one of the major reasons causing visual disability among the elderly and older adults.  Age-related macular degeneration patients may experience blurry central vision, it is more visible while reading and writing.  Straight lines may appear wavy.  As this disease develops, there may be blank spots in the central vision. 

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There are two main types of macular degeneration, i.e. dry form and wet form:

  • In wet macular degeneration, abnormal blood vessels under the retina begin to grow towards the macula.  Because these vessels are abnormal, they tend to break, bleed and leak fluid, damaging the macula.  This can result in a rapid and severe loss of central vision.  Immediate treatment is required for wet form.  It is in the form of direct injections of medicine into the vitreous of the eye for inhibiting abnormal blood vessels growth.

  • Approximatey 80% of macular degeneration is belonged to the dry form.  The major cause is the formation of small white or yellowish deposits, called drusen on the retina, leading it to deteriorate or degenerate over time.  Nowadays, there is no medical evidence demonstrating the absolute cure for dry macular degeneration.  Patients could consider taking a supplement called AREDS2.  According to the study by the National Eye Institute, this AREDS2 eye vitamin formula founded by the American Macular Degeneration Foundation may effectively prolong dry macular degeneration progression by up to 25%.

 

The following people are at higher risk for developing macular degeneration:

  • Old age

  • Highly myopic

  • Suffer from high cholesterol, hypertension or diabetes

  • Smokers or

  • Without putting on sunglasses for long hours when staying outdoors

Retinal detachment

  • Thinning or cracks on the degenerated retina, sudden severe crash or lifting or pulling of the retina may be the causes.  Floaters or flashes are the usual early signs when the retina detaches.  But there were no signs at all in abundant cases.

  • People who are extremely near-sighted (-6.00D or above) are at higher risk as the retina becomes thinner among prolonged eye balls.  When the above symptoms occur, recommend to have an eye check as soon as possible.

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