I had my eye doctor appointment today. After getting away without glasses for 62 years, I'm now strongly encouraged to join the corrective lenses club. Yup - glasses.
The good news is I don't have glaucoma, my 'eye structures' are healthy and I don't have macular degeneration. Although, being an older light skinned male, I'm susceptible to it.
Age-related macular degeneration, often called AMD or ARMD, is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness among Americans who are age 65 and older. Because people in this group are an increasingly larger percentage of the general population, vision loss from macular degeneration is a growing problem.
The eye doctor said tht this is something that is monitored and prevention is eating leafy green vegetables (like spinach - which I love).
Now the bad news. I have cataracts.
A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision. Most cataracts are related to aging. Cataracts are very common in older people. By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery.
A cataract can occur in either or both eyes. It cannot spread from one eye to the other.
I have cataracts in both eyes, but my right eye has the clouding in my line of vision. The symptoms of early cataract may be improved with new eyeglasses, brighter lighting, anti-glare sunglasses, or magnifying lenses. If these measures do not help, surgery is the only effective treatment. Surgery involves removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an artificial lens.
A cataract needs to be removed only when vision loss interferes with everyday activities, such as driving, reading, or watching TV. In most cases, delaying cataract surgery will not cause long-term damage to my eye or make the surgery more difficult. I do not have to rush into surgery.
I've been given a prescription for distance. My near vision is pretty good (20/30), but my distance is 20/40. Glasses will help bring that to 20/30.
The doctor said she doesn't know how long I've had these, but surmises that I've had them for about a year, but she has no other data on me for comparison. Some of her patients experience little to no change over time, while others show a greater progression. This is something to monitor, she said.
I asked what causes these other than age, she said that there are many variables (one being stress). [Gee I haven't had any reason for that.]. But added that my taking Tamoxifen for just over the last week had no affect. In addition, if there was any long term affect, it would not be cataracts.
She said it possible that I've had this problem (in my right eye), but didn't notice until I was asked to be cognizant of vision changes (as a result of Tamoxifen). The body does compensate, in this case by relying on the better eye. I may have been unaware of my impaired vision in my right eye.
Things could always be worse. So I'll get eye glasses for distance (driving mostly) and monitor my vision in between becoming an "I eats my spinach", Popeye.
More to come.
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