Senior Citizen Low Vision Sufferers Regaining Visual Function
/EINPresswire.com/ Butler Pa June 14, 2011 -- Do you know someone "up there" in age who has difficulty reading the newspaper, writing checks, counting money or maneuvering a set of stairs? What most Americans don't know is that the leading cause of this "functional loss" is a disease called Age Related Macular Degeneration, or AMD. AMD falls into a broad category of eye diseases classified as "Low Vision".
The statistics are staggering, 26% of seniors over 70 suffer from AMD. The disease strikes a new person every three minutes and is a leading cause of falls, fractures, and even depression among seniors. Overall, low vision diseases are the third greatest cause of debilitation among senior citizens, behind only heart disease and arthritis.
Low vision, by definition, is not curable by surgery, medication or corrective lenses. Moreover, it becomes progressively worse with age. For many seniors, walking safely, cooking and even watching television have become nightmarish challenges.
Until now, those who suffer from low vision, especially AMD, had few options for relief. In some cases, low vision optometrists are able to design customized lenses, which enhance visual acuity. In most cases, these lenses cost thousands of dollars and are not covered by Medicare or other insurances.
Recently, a growing number of Medicare home health agencies have started to offer a form of low vision relief called "home modification". This remedy consists of trying to adapt the home environment to become more "low vision friendly". A wide range of techniques ranging from the use of larger font clocks and magnifiers to use of "high contrast" markings to distinguish on/off switches on lights and appliances can be employed. These and other creative adaptations can help increase functionality, despite progressively worsening visual deficits.
However, while home modification can assist with functionality, it cannot restore vision. Most AMD sufferers ultimately reach the point where they hear the dreaded words, "there's nothing more that can be done."
Now, for the first time in your area, VNA, Western Pennsylvania says "yes, that there is something that can be done". A new option now exists for those patients suffering with AMD, Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and other low vision disabilities. It is called VISUAL RETRAINING.
Visual retraining recognizes that, although diseases like AMD damage the central portion of the macula, there remain other "healthy" areas, where detail vision is still possible. Through scientific testing, these healthy areas can be located, and the eye trained to use them.
Here is a typical example:
Frances is 78 years old and suffers from acute AMD. Before her visual retraining treatment was completed, vision in her better eye was 20/600 with magnification. Now it is 20/160, a 73% improvement. Her reading speed has increased from ten minutes to six, and accuracy has improved by almost 50%.
Frances' results are not the exception. The average increase in visual acuity, using visual retraining in combination with home modification, is 40 to 60%. Reading speed and accuracy improve equally dramatically. Patient independence and safety climb proportionately.
And there is more good news. Not only does visual retraining work, but it can be completed in only eight weeks entirely within the home. And Medicare pays 100% for those who qualify.
Low Vision Works by VNA, Western Pennsylvania is a uniquely effective program for the treatment of low vision. It incorporates visual retraining with home adaptation, to produce dramatic increases in visual acuity, reading speed and accuracy and overall functional independence.
For more information about this new and exciting program offered by Low Vision Works by VNA, Western Pennsylvania, please contact Bill Changoway at 866-989-0034.
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The statistics are staggering, 26% of seniors over 70 suffer from AMD. The disease strikes a new person every three minutes and is a leading cause of falls, fractures, and even depression among seniors. Overall, low vision diseases are the third greatest cause of debilitation among senior citizens, behind only heart disease and arthritis.
Low vision, by definition, is not curable by surgery, medication or corrective lenses. Moreover, it becomes progressively worse with age. For many seniors, walking safely, cooking and even watching television have become nightmarish challenges.
Until now, those who suffer from low vision, especially AMD, had few options for relief. In some cases, low vision optometrists are able to design customized lenses, which enhance visual acuity. In most cases, these lenses cost thousands of dollars and are not covered by Medicare or other insurances.
Recently, a growing number of Medicare home health agencies have started to offer a form of low vision relief called "home modification". This remedy consists of trying to adapt the home environment to become more "low vision friendly". A wide range of techniques ranging from the use of larger font clocks and magnifiers to use of "high contrast" markings to distinguish on/off switches on lights and appliances can be employed. These and other creative adaptations can help increase functionality, despite progressively worsening visual deficits.
However, while home modification can assist with functionality, it cannot restore vision. Most AMD sufferers ultimately reach the point where they hear the dreaded words, "there's nothing more that can be done."
Now, for the first time in your area, VNA, Western Pennsylvania says "yes, that there is something that can be done". A new option now exists for those patients suffering with AMD, Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and other low vision disabilities. It is called VISUAL RETRAINING.
Visual retraining recognizes that, although diseases like AMD damage the central portion of the macula, there remain other "healthy" areas, where detail vision is still possible. Through scientific testing, these healthy areas can be located, and the eye trained to use them.
Here is a typical example:
Frances is 78 years old and suffers from acute AMD. Before her visual retraining treatment was completed, vision in her better eye was 20/600 with magnification. Now it is 20/160, a 73% improvement. Her reading speed has increased from ten minutes to six, and accuracy has improved by almost 50%.
Frances' results are not the exception. The average increase in visual acuity, using visual retraining in combination with home modification, is 40 to 60%. Reading speed and accuracy improve equally dramatically. Patient independence and safety climb proportionately.
And there is more good news. Not only does visual retraining work, but it can be completed in only eight weeks entirely within the home. And Medicare pays 100% for those who qualify.
Low Vision Works by VNA, Western Pennsylvania is a uniquely effective program for the treatment of low vision. It incorporates visual retraining with home adaptation, to produce dramatic increases in visual acuity, reading speed and accuracy and overall functional independence.
For more information about this new and exciting program offered by Low Vision Works by VNA, Western Pennsylvania, please contact Bill Changoway at 866-989-0034.
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