So, you think you know your colors? Red’s red, blue’s blue, green’s green. Right? And those with advanced color savvy can even identify puce, chartreuse, tangerine and heliotrope. Right? Maybe not. If you’ve reached the half century mark, the color you see may not be exactly the true hue, tint or tone of the color on display.
Why? Cataracts.
According to Ardmore optometrist, Dr. Ryan Parker, “Cataracts start happening in the mid- to late 50s and progress. Cataracts happen to everyone.”
Genetics and environment play a role in whether cataracts lead to serious vision problems that require surgery. But for most of the 50-and-older crowd, cataracts are simply an aging-eye thing, caused by years and sun exposure. The only thing mild cataracts affect is color perception.
“The lens of the eye turns yellow. What that means is that colors don’t look the same to you as they really are. It’s really not a big deal, but it is a signal. It’s that first sign that your eyes are slowly changing,” Parker said.
“One of my patients, who did have to have surgery, told me on her follow-up visit the surgery had gone great, but her kitchen was hideous,” he said. “Before having surgery, she had repainted her kitchen, taking great care to pick out just the right color. She had wondered for weeks why none of her family members had complimented her on her color choice until she saw the real color she had picked out.”
While cataracts are a 50-plus sight issue ranging from mild distortion-of-color perception to a blurred-vision condition easily corrected with surgery, Parker said macular degeneration is fast becoming one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. And macular degeneration can start occurring once eyes reach the 40-year-old mark.
“Macula is the sweet (central) spot in the eye,” he said. “Pigment starts to degenerate causing vision loss. It is subtle in the earlier stages. And the earlier it is detected, the better the chance of preventing total vision loss. Everyone 40 and older should be checked.”
While there is no cure for macular degeneration, there are preventive measures that can help prolong sight.
“Macular degeneration is due, in part, to genetics and exposure to the sun, but the big one is diet,” Parker said. “Eating a diet rich in leafy greens and antioxidants, really loading up on foods with antioxidants, can help.”
