 Health & Nutrition
Thoughts on
Aging
Steps to Protect Your Eyesight - January 5, 2012
(2 minutes: 13 seconds)
 WMA (audio
only)
Audio/Video Script:
Dr. LaVona Traywick
Assistant Professor - Gerontology
[Announcer] Welcome to Thoughts on Aging with Dr. LaVona Traywick,
Assistant Professor of Gerontology with the University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
[Dr. LaVona Traywick] Are you holding the newspaper farther away from
your eyes than you used to? Join the crowd. Age can bring changes that affect
your eyesight. Some changes are more serious than others, but for many problems,
there are things you can do to protect your vision.
The first step is to have your eyes checked regularly by an eye care
professional, either an ophthalmologist or optometrist. People over age 65
should have yearly eye exams. During this exam, the eye care professional should
put drops in your eyes that will widen, or also called dilate, your pupils so
that he or she can look at your inner eye. This is the only way to see some
common eye diseases that have no early signs or symptoms. If you wear glasses,
your prescription should be checked also.
See your doctor regularly to check for diseases like diabetes and high blood
pressure. These diseases can cause eye problems if not treated.
See an eye care professional right away if you:
Suddenly cannot see or everything looks dim,
You see flashes of light,
You have eye pain,
You experience double vision, or
You have redness or swelling of your eye or eyelid.
Protect your eyes from too much sunlight by wearing sunglasses that block
ultraviolet (UV) radiation and a hat with a wide brim when you are outside.
For more information you can visit the National Eye Institute at
www.nei.nih.gov
or Extension at www.uaex.edu
[Announcer] Thank you for listening to Thoughts on Aging with Dr. LaVona
Traywick. To learn more about this and other topics, contact your local county
Cooperative
Extension Service office.
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