Good vision helps your elderly family member in so many ways. It helps her to avoid obstacles, it allows her to see friends and family, and it can be a clue about her overall health.
Yearly Exams Are Essential
Many people don’t want to go to a yearly eye exam because they don’t perceive it to be necessary. But yearly eye exams help your elderly family member’s eye doctor to spot potential issues before they become serious. Each exam provides another bit of data for the baseline so anomalies are much more obvious.
Some Tests Are Occasionally Optional
One reason that some people don’t like going to the eye doctor is that they don’t like certain tests, such as the pupil dilation. The good news is that some of these tests are optional and don’t need to be done during every visit. Work with your elderly family member’s eye doctor to determine which tests are actually optional. If your elderly family member does have to have her pupils dilated, make sure that someone else can drive her to the appointment, like an elderly care provider or another family member.
Eye Health Correlates to Overall Health
Your senior’s eye doctor can tell a lot about her overall health just from examining her eyes. This is because overall health and eye health are very closely tied together. Some of these health conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, can cause problems for your aging family member’s vision.
When to Schedule an Emergency Appointment
Knowing when to get into the eye doctor’s office right away is vital for your elderly family member. Some of these situations mean that she needs to go to her eye doctor immediately:
- Blurry vision that comes on suddenly
- Double vision
- Pain in the eyes
- Swollen eyes or eyelids
- Redness in the eye
If you’re still in doubt as to whether an emergency appointment is warranted, call the office and explain what is going on.
Eye exams don’t have to be complicated or take a lot of time. Work with your elderly family member’s eye doctor to schedule exams for times when the office is less busy.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Elderly Care Services in South Hills PA, please call and talk to the caring staff at Extended Family Care of Pittsburgh at (412) 693-6009. We will answer all of your questions.
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