From the first minute we are born, every part of our body changes, and eyes are no exception. Across every age range about 66% of the population wear some form of sight correction. Your chances of a visual defect occurring increases as you age, and the biggest change is when we reach our mid-forties, and need help for reading. This can be a sensitive issue for many patients! Fifty may be the new thirty but nobody told our eyes about this!! The statistics show that only 33% of people wear glasses under the age of 35, but nearly everyone needs them over age 65.

As our lives are increasingly full and dynamic, even retired people get involved in every kind of sporting activity and use computers for their leisure time. The days of simple reading glasses are over for most of us, so we have to take care not to make assumptions about which patients need what. We’ve got an 89 year old gentleman who still goes skiing, and a 91 year old who has just learnt to e-mail her Great Grandchildren! So we have to look out for eye health problems that occur with age, and then disregard age when it comes to discussing specs. The most common eye health problems are Glaucoma, in the over 40 age group, and Macular degeneration in the over 60s.

If ill health strikes and patients become frail, illness may affect aspects of sight and lifestyle which we can help with. It may be as simple as recommending a daylight reading lamp to help with close work at night, or a referral to a Low Vision Aid (LVA) clinic. Visual problems may have to be corrected with something more complex than a pair of specs, and the LVA clinic will help with magnifiers to improve quality of life in specific eye conditions.

Every day brings a new challenge, and being aware of a patients’ age helps us to make full diagnosis and help in every way possible.