People suffering from Alzheimer’s disease can have loss of vision and hence their eyes must be checked periodically to test their visual clarity.
Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain cells and slowly destroys them. The main symptoms of the disease are decreasing memory, ability to reason, creative abilities and learning powers. Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease are often disoriented too much to be able to take notice of the vision impairment.The New Saint Louis University researchers who have conducted a survey of people suffering from Alzheimer’s said that amongst the patients of the disease who have been staying in the medical homes most have lost their glasses, broken them or have glasses that have not been updated to their new eye sight power. Some of them are too impaired to even ask for a replacement or report their decreasing ability to see things clearly.
The researchers are of the opinion that the loss of vision often may limit the mobility of the patients, cause them to feel disoriented and increase the chance of injury from falls. The researchers also recommend that the institutionalized care givers for the patients of Alzheimer’s disease should be actively involved in conducting regular tests for the patients’ eye sights, give them the right eye glasses, and take care of the spectacles for patients who are too impaired to do so.
Reference: Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, July 2005
