Eye Care - Adults

Regular eye exams are the best way to understand and protect your eye health. Early diagnosis will make sure you get proper treatment that could help save your eyesight. This is especially vital for eye conditions that don't have clear, early signs or symptoms.

At ProMedica's eye care centers, we use leading-edge technology to perform exams, adjust eyeglass prescriptions and treat eye problems. Our methods include:

• Fluorescein angiography (retinal imaging).
• HRT (three-dimensional imaging).
• OCT cross-sectional imaging.
• Pentacam®.
• VISX™ Star S4 IR™.

Our ProMedica eye care specialists recommend regular checkups for eye health at every stage of life. Keep these guidelines in mind:

• Children who have no family history of eye disease or symptoms should have their eyes examined by their pediatrician as part of their regular well-child check-ups. Children should have a complete eye exam by an eye care professional before they start school, and then every two years after. Learn more.
• A complete eye exam is recommended for adults who have good vision and healthy eyes with no family history of eye disease or symptoms. This should be done at least one time between ages 20 and 29 and at least two times between ages 30 and 39.
• If you're an adult with no symptoms or eye disease risk factors, the American Academy of Ophthalmology now recommends a baseline complete eye exam at age 40 to screen for eye diseases. Between the ages of 40 and 60, adults should follow up at the times that are recommended by their eye doctor. This will depend on factors that are evaluated at the baseline exam.
• Older adults ages 60 and over should have a complete eye exam every one or two years. The exam should check for eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. People with a family history of eye disease or other risk factors should see their eye care doctor more often.

Protect your eyes during your daily routine and planned activities. Be sure to wear:

• One-piece plastic sports frames with polycarbonate lenses when playing sports or recreational activities.
• Plastic safety goggles when working with household cleaning products, weed-killers, fertilizers and other chemicals, or with power tools and yard equipment.
• Sunglasses that block 100% of both UVA and UVB radiation whenever you spend time outdoors. Gray, green and brown lenses provide the most protection.
• Wraparound frames when you spend a lot of time outdoors in bright sunlight.

If you wear contact lenses, keep these guidelines in mind:

• Clean and disinfect your lenses' carrying case often. Use a new case every six months.
• Don't put contact lenses in your mouth or dampen them with saliva.
• Don't go to sleep with your contact lenses in. The only time to do this is when the lenses are made to be worn day and night. Sleeping with them in can raise your chances of getting an infection by about 10 times.
• Don't use homemade saline solutions.
• Carefully follow lens care and wearing instructions.
• See your eye care provider if you have pain wearing lenses or you have any change in your vision.
• Wash your hands thoroughly before handling your lenses.

There's no doubt that using a computer strains your eyes. It's important to think about your eyes when you're working on the computer. It's part of doing all you can to protect your valuable sight.

• Adjust the angle of the computer screen to cut down on reflections from overhead lights and desk lamps.
• Adjust the screen 20 to 25 inches away from your eyes and slightly below eye level.
• Follow the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes take a 20-second break and focus your eyes on an object 20 feet away.
• Keep the screen's brightness as bright or brighter than other bright objects in the room.
• Place the screen at right angles to any windows to cut down on glare. Use a filter that reduces glare or, if glare is an ongoing problem, use a computer hood with three sides.
• Use an adjustable holder for papers. Adjust the holder so your reference materials are at the same height and distance from you as the computer screen.
• Use artificial tears to refresh your eyes when they feel dry.
• Wipe the screen often with an anti-static cloth.

Learn about the importance of your annual eye exam.

Cataracts are cloudy areas in a person's normally clear eye lens that blocks the passage of light to the retina. Cataracts can cause a person to be more sensitive to light glare and can make it hard to see, especially at night. Cataract patients often have dull visual sharpness, color and form, and a halo effect around lights.

Chronic dry eye develops when the eye does not produce enough tears or the eyelid's structure keeps tear film from forming evenly over the surface of the eye. The eye's naturally produced tear film dries up too quickly, and the composition of tears is not normal.

Diabetic retinopathy be caused by long-term diabetes and it usually affects both eyes. It's often symptom-free until the last stage, which can cause rapid, permanent eye damage and vision loss. The symptoms of diabetic retinopathy may include:

• Blank or dark areas in your field of vision.
• Blurred vision.
• Colors appear washed out or different.
• Floaters (spots, dots or cobweb-like dark strings floating in your vision).
• Poor night vision.
• Vision that sometimes changes from blurry to clear.

Learn more about diabetic retinopathy care with ProMedica.

Flashes and floaters appear as small specks or clouds moving in your field of vision. They’re more common as we approach middle-age.

Floaters are actually tiny clumps of cells or material inside the vitreous, which is the clear, gel-like fluid that fills the inside of your eye. Once that vitreous gel begins to shrink, the posterior vitreous detaches itself from the back wall of the eye. This results in floaters and flashes.

Glaucoma is created when fluid builds up because it's not able to naturally drain out of the eye. This fluid build-up raises the pressure in the eye. It can lead to permanent optic nerve damage with partial or even total vision loss. If caught early, glaucoma can usually be controlled.

There are several types of glaucoma:

• Angle-closure.
• Congenital or "childhood."
• Irido corneal endothelial syndrome (ICE).
• Neovascular.
• Normal tension.
• Pigmentary.
• Primary open-angle (POAG).

Macular degeneration affects the part of our eyes that lets us see fine details. It's part of the body's natural aging process and is more common in those over age 75.

There are two classifications of macular degeneration: dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration.

Dry macular degeneration affects one or both eyes and can make distance vision or reading vision blurry. If you have this condition, you may need more bright light to see up close and colors appear less vivid or bright. You may have hazy vision or trouble seeing when you enter a dimly lit room from the bright outdoors. You may not be able to easily recognize people's faces, and there’s a blank or blurry spot in your central vision.

Wet macular degeneration symptoms usually appear and get worse quickly. Colors lose their brightness and don't look the same for each eye. The size of objects may also look different for each eye. You may have distorted vision (straight lines will appear bent, crooked or irregular), dark gray spots or blank spots in your vision. You may also lose your central vision.

Retinal detachment happens when the light-sensitive membrane in the eye separates from the layers that support it. Some signs that your retina has detached are:

• A sudden appearance of flashes, which could be the first stage of a retinal tear or detachment.
• A sudden decrease in your vision.
• A sudden increase in size and number of floaters.
• Having a shadow appear in the periphery (side) of your field of vision.
• Seeing a gray curtain move across your field of vision.

When you hear that someone has “20/20” vision it usually means they have good eyesight and don't need eyeglasses. The phrase "20/20 vision" refers to normal vision and a person's ability to read a certain row of letters on a standard vision chart from 20 feet away.

Dilation lets your eye doctor view the inside of your eyes and check their health. During a dilated eye exam, the doctor can see signs and symptoms of vision problems, eye diseases and even other health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism are all refractive disorders and are the most common eye problems in the United States. If you're nearsighted, it means you're able to see objects clearly up-close, while objects in the distance are blurry. If you're farsighted, you're able to see objects clearly in the distance and up-close objects are blurry. Having an astigmatism means your cornea is shaped like a football, which causes objects both near and far to be distorted and out of focus.

In most cases, spots or "floaters" are very common and are a part of the natural aging process. As we get older, the vitreous (the clear, gel-like substance that fills the inside of the eye) tends to shrink slightly, detach from the retina and form clumps within the eye. What you see are the shadows these clumps cast on the retina, the light-sensitive nerve layer that lines the back of the eye.

Floaters can get in the way of clear vision, often when reading. Try looking up and then down to move the floaters out of the way. While some floaters may remain, many of them will fade over time.

If you have a sudden "flash" of light or rush of floaters, you may have a tear in your retina, or your retina may be detaching from the back of the eye. This is a serious problem that must be treated by a healthcare provider as soon as possible to avoid losing vision permanently.

Currently, there is no cure for glaucoma. Vision that's lost because of glaucoma can't be restored. That's why complete dilated eye exams are critical to diagnose glaucoma. Then treatment can begin before permanent damage occurs.

Cataracts are cloudy areas that form on the natural lens of the eye. Cataracts keep light from passing to the retina. This makes it hard to see at night and causes objects to look blurry, hazy and dull. Cataracts are one of the most common eye conditions in the United States and are treated with surgery. If left untreated, cataracts cause ongoing vision loss and can lead to legal blindness or even total blindness.

You need a contact lens check if you're new to wearing contact lenses or your contact lens brand or prescription has changed. A contact lens check makes sure that both lenses fit on the eye properly and it also shows the quality of your vision with the new lenses.