The Aging Eye: See into Your Future
Age-Related Eye Change #3
The lens of the eye gradually yellows with age.
Impact: The yellowing of the eye lens affects color perception. For example, the yellowing lens tends to absorb and scatter blue light, making it difficult to see differences in shades of blue, green, and violet. Colors may seem duller, and contrasts between colors will be less noticeable. This may cause confusion when picking out clothes or performing other tasks that require color perception. It also may become difficult to tell where an object ends and its background begins, making it difficult to see curbs or steps, for example.
Compensation: A few specific adjustments to lighting and color choices should help alleviate the effects of minor lens yellowing. Try this:
- Choose halogen or fluorescent bulbs specifically designed to improve color rendering. Bulbs with a color-rendering index (CRI) above 80 may best help older eyes with color definition.
- Use warm contrasting colors, such as yellow, orange, and red, in your home to improve your ability to tell where things are and make it easier to perform daily activities.
- Put colored tape on the edge of steps to help make them easier to navigate.
Eventually, the underlying process that causes lens yellowing may lead to cataracts. Surgical procedures are available for people whose degree of vision impairment due to cataracts is severe enough to interfere with safety or quality of life.
Visit the National Eye Institute (NEI) to learn more about current cataract treatments and vision disorders.
Give Your Eyes a Boost
Creating an eye-friendly environment is only the beginning of boosting your vision. Studies show that certain lifestyle habits and dietary choices may help protect the lens of the eye and reduce the risk of certain lens conditions that diminish sight.
For example, this study published in the American Journal of Nutrition reveals that a diet rich in vitamin C and foods containing plant pigments, or carotenoids, may help protect the lens of the eye and reduce the risk of cataracts. A lack of these nutrients appears to speed cross-linking, a process in which proteins in the lens form unwanted links or bonds, making the lens thicker, more rigid, scattering even more light than it would otherwise.
Carotenoids exhibit antioxidant properties. Examples include beta carotene, lycopene, and lutein. There is no recommended daily allowance for carotenoids, but you can get your fill by eating lots of produce. Carotenoid-rich foods include sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, spinach, tomatoes, kale, and mangoes. Aim for four servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables per day to help ensure you get the nutrients you need to maximize your eye health. Find other sources of these eye-protective nutrients.
In addition to certain nutritional deficits, other lifestyle choices may speed up cross-linking and put lens health at risk. These include smoking and excessive exposure to UV rays from the sun.
What's Not a Normal Part of Aging
As you get older, it is very important to have regular eye examinations. Some eye changes may signal something more serious than age-related changes, such as an eye disease that needs medical treatment. Even if you are not experiencing eye symptoms, regular checkups are a must. Many eye diseases do not have warning symptoms but could be minimized or slowed with proper treatment. For example, although eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal detachment are often painless and the onset is gradual, they can greatly impair vision if not promptly treated.
During a doctor appointment, if you have or are suspected of having disorders affecting the retina, or if you are at risk for other eye diseases such as glaucoma, you may be given an Amsler eye test.
Example Amsler Eye Test
Give your eyes a quick check using the Amsler Grid instructions below. This grid is one type of test used by eye-care specialists to identify vision changes that affect central vision -- the vision used for reading and other close-detail work. The Amsler Grid is a standard test for detecting defects in the eye's retina. Remember, this is a simulation of the actual test. Only an eye specialist can make an accurate diagnosis or rule out underlying disease.
- Print out a paper version of the grid.
- In a well-lit room, hold the grid at normal reading distance (14–18 inches away). If you normally wear glasses for reading, be sure to wear them.
- Cover one eye and look at the box.
- Focus on the dot in the center of the grid.
- Note how the lines and squares appear.
- Which of the following most closely resembles what you see? (Choose one.)
- straight, evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines that intersect to form squares, like graph paper
- horizontal and vertical lines, similar to graph paper, with larger wavy lines bending outward at the center
- horizontal and vertical lines, similar to graph paper, with smaller wavy lines bending inward at the center
- horizontal and vertical lines, similar to graph paper, with lines blurred or distorted toward the center
- Repeat the test on the other eye.
Go to the next page to find out what your answers may mean.
