May 2, 2025
Glaucoma occurs when damage is sustained by the optic nerve. The optic nerve’s job is to send visual information to the brain to interpret and react to so when it is damaged, it can result in vision loss.
Glaucoma can happen at any age but is more common for the elderly and is the leading cause of blindness for those who are over 60 years old. An increased pressure begins to build in the eye, causing blind spots to occur in the vision field as the optic nerve sustains more damage throughout the years.
There are several types of glaucoma, with the most common form of glaucoma being open-angle glaucoma. When this occurs, parts of the drainage system of the eye don’t drain properly, leading to an increase in eye pressure.
Unfortunately, glaucoma usually doesn’t present any early warning signs. Once any symptoms begin to be noticeable, the disease has already advanced quite a bit and the damage has been done. If your elderly loved one has had glaucoma for years but hasn’t received her annual eye exams, the first sign that she has glaucoma may be that she starts to notice a slight vision change, usually in her peripheral vision (the edges or vision, not central vision). The edges of her vision might be blurry but if she turns her head to look at the area that seemed blurred, it’ll be clear once it’s in her central vision. After years of this, your loved one may lose vision in those areas completely, making certain tasks difficult. It can even extend to her central vision, severely impacting how she manages many everyday tasks.
If your loved one has been diagnosed with low vision because of glaucoma, it can greatly reduce some of the “typical” daily activities that many people participate in. Your loved one will most likely not be able to drive herself anymore and she might find that some activities such as reading the fine print on a prescription bottle or sewing a button back onto a shirt will become activities that she can no longer safely engage in.
Yet, despite those limitations, your loved one can still live a full life and enjoy many aspects of her life, including her home if she gets some assistance. While some people may be able to manage daily living with short weekly visits, others whose eyesight is more severely damaged may need care around the clock. A 24-hour home care team can be a great support for your loved one by ensuring that someone is always at the home, ready to assist your elderly loved one in whatever ways she needs. With 24-hour home care, she’ll be able to have someone drive her to and from appointments, as well as social events that occur on the weekends and evenings. She’ll have someone there to help her safely prepare her meals or assist in small detail work that’s needed to maintain a home. They can also help with daily living care tasks and be there in the morning to help her get dressed if needed and then be there at night to assist with personal care tasks like nail trimming.
Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/glaucoma/symptoms-causes/syc-20372839
