Slide 4 of 21
Notes:
Acuity is a measure of the finest detail a person can make out. This function decreases as a person gets older making it more difficult to distinguish between different shapes and contrasts.
Yellowing of the lens of the eye makes it difficult for older people to identify certain colors like blue, green, and violet. These colors appear darker and more yellow to older people.
Inflexibility of the lens in the eye occurs as people get older. The eye loses its ability to focus on close objects. It also causes a decrease in the eye’s ability to accommodate for changes in depth such as is needed when going up and down stairs. For this reason, older people need to be more careful on stairs, curbs, and doorway thresholds.
With aging, the lens of the eye can also become cloudy and form cataracts. Because of this, eye glare can occur and cause a temporary disturbance in a person’s vision. This becomes a problem outside on sunny days and inside when bright lights are reflected off shiny floors. Older people should be taught to wear wide brimmed hats and sunglasses to shield them from the glare outside and to shade inside windows with blinds or drapes to decrease the glare from the sun inside the home. Glare can cause pain and limit a person’s ability to identify objects.
