Aging takes a toll on the body no matter which body part you’re thinking about. Your skin wrinkles and sags with age and gravity and your teeth stain if you don’t look after them enough. Your hearing may start to fade as you age but it’s your eyesight that should have your attention. Even if you have glasses already, your sight can get worse.
Prescriptions for reading glasses may be your norm as you age but so could developing cataracts. Understanding what signs there are about failing sight will help you to capture these issues sooner than later, before you can do something to reverse them. Deterioration in your eyesight is going to be permanent unless you can prevent it happening and to do that, you need these top signs your sight may be failing:
- You can see the floaters. Those little things in your eyeliner that seem to float in and out? Well, those are floaters and are also known as myodesopsia. They can take all kinds of forms, from lines to dots to squiggly things that float around. They may not always be a cause for concern but if you are seeing these more often than not, then you should get your eyes tested for any underlying issues with your retina.
- You notice straight lines aren’t so straight anymore. Have you ever heard of metamorphopsia? Well, this is where straight lines are no longer straight and it happens when the retinal layers are displaced. This can happen with age and if it starts to affect your vision you’re soon going to notice.
- There is a sudden dark spot. Blind spots that appear in your line of sight are not a good thing, and they are going to be signs that you have a macular hole in the retina. The cause of this isn’t always clear but it’s something that commonly affects people over 60 – particularly women.
- You suddenly can’t see. It doesn’t matter whether the issue happens briefly or permanently, you shouldn’t be losing your vision at all. Sudden vision loss is going to be an emergency issue as you could be looking at a retinal detachment. Causes of sudden vision loss often are an emergent situation so you should go to the emergency department (with help) right away.
- You are gradually losing your vision. It happens with age but it can be helped with the right glasses or contact lenses. If the cause of your vision loss is aging, your optometrist can help you. They can tell you whether you have glaucoma issues or your eyesight is just starting to decline due to age.
- You have pain. A painful eye needs to be seen by a doctor. Pain in the eyes has a lot of causes and it’s important to get some help if you are experiencing this. You shouldn’t ever have to be in pain and a scratched cornea is not comfortable and can end up with a lost eye entirely.
