February is Low Vision Awareness Month

Low Vision Awareness Month

As the remaining baby-boom generation comes close to the age of 65, the amount of cases of visual impairment and blindness is projected to experience a boom of its own in the coming years. Based on current research studies financed by the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the quantity of Americans who are visually impaired — also including those with low vision– is presumed to multiply more than 8 million through 2050.

Low vision is when individuals have a hard time seeing, despite regular eyeglasses, contact lenses, medicine, or surgery. Individuals with low vision may find it challenging to complete day-to-day tasks including navigating the community, reading through the mail, shopping, cooking, or enjoying television.

The majority of people with low vision are age 65 or older. The top sources of vision loss in older adults are age-related macular weakening, diabetic retinopathy, cataract, as well as glaucoma. Among younger people, vision loss is usually brought on by inherited vision conditions, autoimmune and infectious eye diseases, or injury.

This is why scheduling routine eye care appointments is necessary for your overall eye health. Shoreline Vision can guide you through the steps for preventing low vision loss.

The following suggestions are devised in order to help individuals with low vision take care of their medications.

1. Consult your pharmacist to print an alternative label with much larger print that you can effortlessly see. Mark your medication bottles with large-print labels, tactile dots, elastic band, or even Braille.

2. In the event that large-print labels don’t work for you, Use talking medication identifiers.

3. If dropped, utilize a tray with good contrast to assist you see your medications and prevent them from dropping on the floor.

4. Place a light near the labels you are attempting to view.

5. If you have taken each dose of a particular medication each day, attach daily dosage trackers to medication bottles to help you remember.