When your elderly family member has healthy vision, she’s able to remain much safer at home and she’s able to have the quality of life that she wants to have. There’s more that you can do to help her to keep her eyes healthy than you might think.
Her Overall Health Relates to Her Eye Health
Your elderly family member’s overall health makes a big difference in terms of lots of things, including her eye health. If your elderly family member is dealing with health issues like diabetes, that affects her entire body, even her vision. Keeping your senior’s existing health issues as much under control as possible is one way to protect her eyesight.
Visiting the Eye Doctor Is Crucial
The best way to protect your senior’s eyesight is to visit the eye doctor regularly. Small eye issues are easy for your elderly family member’s eye doctor to notice if she’s keeping up with her visits. Depending on her health, your senior’s eye doctor may be fine with her coming in yearly or visits every six months might be in order. Routine eye visits don’t take long and they give both your aging family member’s eye doctor and her doctor a lot of information.
There May Be Some Extra Eye Tests
Something else to be aware of is that there may be additional tests that your senior needs to go through every visit. Pupil dilation is just one of those tests, but there may be others that test more thoroughly for things like glaucoma and other eye issues. Being as thorough as possible with these tests gives your senior a chance to rule out situations that could possibly create bigger problems later.
Know When Your Senior Might Have a Vision Emergency
There are certain situations that indicate your senior’s vision is in trouble, and it’s important as her caregiver to be able to recognize those signs. Suddenly blurry or double vision, swollen or red eyes, or pain in your senior’s eyes are all signs of trouble. It’s a good idea to ask your elderly family member’s doctor and eye doctor what else you should be aware of in terms of warning signs.
Keeping your senior’s eyes healthy helps her in a myriad of other ways. She’s able to do the things that she loves and she may be able to meet other goals, like continuing to age in place for as long as possible.
If you or an aging loved one is considering caregivers in Lockwood, MT, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY HomeCare Billings today at 406-839-2390.
