The Effects of Age on the Optical System

Over 90 percent of people over 70 years of age need some form of glasses and about one-third of the people over 85 years of age have trouble seeing, even with their glasses on, according to a report published in the December 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Vision problems suffered by elderly people often result from the effects of aging on the optical system.

Physical Changes

• Age-related changes to the structures of your eye may begin by the time you reach age 30, reports the University of Maryland Medical Center. The tear ducts produce fewer tears as your eyes age, making your eyes feel dry and uncomfortable. Aging causes the cornea to decrease in sensitivity, increasing your risk of eye injury. Weakened muscles of the eyelid, pupil and eyeball may result in loose eyelids, difficulty adapting to rapid changes of light and smaller pupils, and decreased movement of the eyeballs, respectively.

  The lens of the eye often yellows in color, decreases in flexibility and develops a cloudy appearance in many older adults. Aging eye may also develop a gray-white ring around the edge of the cornea because of calcium and cholesterol salts deposits.

Eye Disease

• Common eye diseases related to aging include floaters, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Floaters appear as irregular shaped, opaque objects drifting in the visual field. While typically harmless and a normal part of aging, floaters may indicate a detached retina. Cataracts cause a person to feel they are looking through water on glass, making the world look very blurry.

  Glaucoma results from excess fluid in the eyeball, which causes an increase in the pressure within the eye. If not treated, glaucoma can result in blindness. Macular degeneration, the most common cause of age-related blindness, results from nerve cell degeneration in a small portion of the retina. People with diabetes often suffer from blurred vision or eyesight loss due to hemorrhaging of weak-walled blood vessels in the eyes.

Vision Changes

• The degenerative changes of the eyes and common eye disorders often affect an aging person's vision. It takes the eye longer to focus on close objects and determine the identity of distant objects as the lens decreases in flexibly. This lack of focus makes visual scanning to find specific objects becomes more difficult. Decreased pupil size and increased lens thickness may cause an aging person to have trouble seeing in dim light because less light reaches the retina.

  Older people may need bifocals or special reading glasses due to the age-related changes of the optical system making it difficult to read up-close objects and see distance objects using a pair of standard eyeglasses. Reduced peripheral vision that results from some age-related eye disorders may limit social interactions.

Preventing Changes

• Regular eye checkups and a healthy diet help prevent the vision changes associated with many age-related eye changes and disorders, advises Dr. Dawn Luvaas, an optometrist who runs a private practice in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. Vitamins that may help maintain the health of the eyes include vitamins C and E. Ensure you consume enough nutrients with a diet packed full of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy and lean protein.