Scientists may have found a new way to help the elderly preserve their eyesight, especially in the event of a major health event, like a stroke or the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Newly found understanding of the eye and a very specific mechanism in the eye have helped a team of researchers to better understand how this organ works, and it might even help them to understand how to protect and improve vision.
Visual impairment is a major barrier to a high quality of life. Unfortunately, as people age the odds of having to deal with something like decreased eyesight go up. The elderly are more likely to struggle with this than other portions of the population are. Decreased vision, and even blindness can occur in the elderly after a major health crisis. Proper preventive treatment has helped to decrease the likelihood of this happening, but scientists haven’t really understood just why this happens. That is beginning to change.
What they found was that a newly discovered mechanism can help with blood redistribution in the eye, effectively allowing the eye to function properly in the event of some sort of neurodegenerative disease. Things like glaucoma, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease can each have a deleterious impact on vision. With the protection of these nanotubes, the impact of a degenerative disease on the eyes can be avoided or delayed, allowing someone to retain better vision for a longer period of time. This research was conducted on mice, but it looks like the same procedure will be able to be conducted on a human population. More research will be needed here.
Just to clarify, these nanotubes are not implanted into the eye, but rather occur naturally. When something like a stroke or Alzheimer’s begins to impact the eye, one of the things that is impacted is the ability of these nanotubes to tunnel, protecting vision. If this ability were somehow preserved, there is a decent chance that vision could be protected for longer. This is just a hypothesis at this stage, but the preliminary results look quite promising. At the very least, scientists have a better understanding of how eyesight works as someone ages and the ground has been paved for future research to step in and help improve this down the road.
This study was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Montreal Research Centre. Their findings were just recently published in the journal, Nature. Hopefully, this is the start of more research into improving vision, particularly for the elderly population.
When an elderly loved one suffers with some sort of health crisis or disability, getting through each day can become difficult. Some sort of assistance may become necessary in order to help your loved one stay safe. This can be done by a family member, but oftentimes family members don’t have all of the skills needed to handle this type of care.
That’s where in-home care can help. A professional caregiver can come to you, providing all of the assistance that is needed, and your loved one doesn’t have to move away in order for this to happen. This kind of care can be a huge blessing for families that want to remain together, but are unable to provide the level of assistance that their health status mandates.
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