Your senior may be at a stage in which her vision is changing more than she realizes. She may even be dealing with vision loss. That can be a disorienting feeling for her, especially if she’s always been used to relying on her eyes to do their job properly. So, what can you do to help make vision loss easier for your senior to manage?
Get to Know the Signs of Vision Loss
Believe it or not, it’s not always obvious to someone when their vision is changing or going away. Your elderly family member may be dealing with vision loss for some time before she realizes it. Some of the signs to watch for could include that she’s clumsier than usual, her depth perception seems off, or she’s squinting a lot when she looks at things. A thorough eye exam is crucial, especially if it’s been a while.
Keep Her Home as Tidy as Possible
The neater your senior’s home is, the easier it is for her to avoid obstacles and find items when she’s looking for them. Reducing clutter and keeping it that way might seem impossible, but with the help of home care professionals, the job is a lot easier. Your senior may want to keep like items together and ensure that items she uses often are in places that are easy for her to access.
Magnify as Much as You Can
If it’s at all possible, finding clocks with bigger numbers or other household items that use bigger print can be really helpful for your elderly family member. It can also help to have a handheld magnifying glass available for your senior so that she can magnify whatever feels too small for her to read. Other tools and devices made for people with low or no vision can also be helpful.
Improve Lighting
Check the lighting in your senior’s home, too. Often because of vision problems, your senior may not realize that the lights in her home aren’t really sufficient for her needs. Adding more lighting fixtures is an easy solution. Another easy solution is to use brighter light bulbs in the fixtures that can handle them. Night lights can also be helpful, even during the day. Motion-sensing lights ensure that your senior always has light without having to worry about finding the switch.
Get Some Additional Help
Home care providers can do so much to help your senior if she’s having vision problems. They can take over driving duties for her, keep her home clean, and assist with other activities of daily living that are becoming more challenging for her. Home care providers have experience helping seniors and their family members with all sorts of issues, including dealing with vision difficulties. They can also help you to stay up to date with the changes your senior is experiencing.
The important part of managing vision loss is that your senior needs to address the situation. Ignoring it or pretending that it isn’t happening won’t help anything. If anything, it just makes the situation much worse.