How Aging Affects Vision: What’s Normal, What’s Not, When to Seek Care

Aging brings changes to your vision. You may start holding books farther away or notice that driving at night feels more difficult. While these changes can be annoying, most are simply a normal part of getting older.
 

What’s Normal: Common Age-Related Changes

• Trouble seeing up close. Sometime in your 40s, you may notice that reading small print becomes difficult. This is called presbyopia. It happens because the lens inside your eye becomes less flexible and cannot focus on near objects as easily. Reading glasses, bifocals, or progressive lenses can help.
• Needing more light. Your pupils get smaller with age and react more slowly to changes in light. You may need a brighter lamp for reading, and your eyes may take longer to adjust when moving from bright sunlight into a dim room.
• Sensitivity to glare. Changes in your eye’s lens cause light to scatter rather than focus cleanly. You may notice more glare from oncoming headlights at night or from sunlight reflecting off cars and pavement.
• Dry eyes. With age, your eyes start to produce fewer tears than they once did, which can cause a gritty, burning feeling or temporary blurry vision that clears when you blink. This is especially common in women after menopause. Artificial tears can help.
• Floaters. Tiny spots or cobweb-like shapes drifting across your vision are usually harmless. They become more common with age and often bother you less over time as your brain learns to ignore them.
• Colors may look less bright as you get older. The lens in your eye can turn a bit yellow, which makes colors look faded or harder to tell apart, especially blues and greens.

What’s Not Normal: Signs of Eye Disease

Some changes are not just normal aging. They can be signs of eye problems that need quick attention.

• Sudden floaters or flashes. If you suddenly see many new floaters, especially along with flashes of light, it could mean your retina is tearing or detaching. This is an emergency. See a doctor immediately.
• Wavy or distorted vision. If straight lines, such as door frames or text on a page, appear bent or wavy, it could be age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This condition damages the part of your retina responsible for sharp central vision.
• Blank spots in your vision. Losing any part of your vision, even a small area, is never normal. It could be AMD, glaucoma, or another serious condition.
• Loss of side vision. If your peripheral vision starts to narrow, leaving you feeling like you are looking through a tunnel, you may have glaucoma. This often has no early symptoms, which is why regular eye exams are critical.
• Cloudy or hazy vision. If your vision stays foggy or blurry all the time, you may have a cataract. Cataracts are extremely common with age, but they are treatable with surgery when they interfere with daily life.
• Fluctuating vision. Frequent changes in how clearly you see can be a sign of diabetes or high blood pressure. The small blood vessels in your retina are vulnerable to damage from these health issues.
• Sudden vision loss. Any sudden loss of vision, in one eye or both, is a medical emergency. Do not wait. Seek help immediately.

When to Seek Care

The best way to care for your eyes is with regular exams, which are an important way to safeguard your eyesight. A comprehensive dilated exam allows your doctor to look inside your eye, often spotting issues long before you notice any symptoms. Taking this step shows you’re taking good care of yourself.

If you are over 40, plan to have an eye exam every two years. Once you hit 65, make it a yearly habit. Those with diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history of eye trouble may need to come in more often.

For more on how aging affects vision, visit Slate Canyon Eye Care. Our office is in Provo, Utah. Call (801) 607-9718 to book an appointment today.