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Low vision is a common affliction that affects many adults, preventing them from performing day to day activities by lowering their vision to the point that standard eyeglasses, contact lenses and surgery cannot restore their sight to sharper vision. At Maple Lawn Eye Care Center, we treat low vision in North Kensington as well as other eye ailments and conditions.
Our low vision specialist at Maple Lawn Eye Care Center helps those with reduced vision by working with patients and their families to come to a proper treatment plan that works for them. Most cases of low vision are caused by macular degeneration, a disease that affects the retina of the eye. Macular degeneration affects over 1.6 million Americans, most of them older. In the case of macular degeneration, the macula - the part of the retina that helps create sharp central vision, begins to deteriorate and cause blurry vision, difficulty reading, seeing and driving. Macular degeneration is usually age-related, and is a leading cause of blindness in those age 50 and over. Smoking and poor nutrition are especially bad culprits that can contribute to this degenerative eye disease. If you suffer from low vision in North Kensington, we recommend quitting nicotine as well as eating a well balanced diet. Diabetic retinopathy can also contribute to low vision. Diabetes can cause visual function to change by the day and cause the blood vessels in the eye to leak. This causes damage to the retina over time. The best way to prevent this condition from affecting eyes is to control the progression of diabetes.
If the vision loss eventually causes the patient to lose the function to perform many day to day activities, it is diagnosed as low vision. The exam that is used to diagnose low vision in North Kensington is different from a regular eye exam in that the exam is much longer, lasting at least an hour or more. Refraction is performed to find out if a regular eyeglass prescription will help the vision get any better. The level of magnification sometimes needs to be upped in order for the patient to have the clearest vision and to perform the tasks needed to live day to day without assistance.
By Maple Lawn Eye Care Center
March 30, 2016
