By Debbie Gardner
dgardner@thereminder.com
Dr. Michael Gousy of Vision Associates, 509 Southwick Rd., Westfield has been a practicing optometrist for 34 years, moving into his new, state-of-the-art offices in Westfield three years ago. A graduate of the New England College of Optometry in Boston, the doctor, who specializes in contact lens fittings as well as complete eye care, is also a member of the Massachusetts Society of Optometrists and the American Optometric Association.
With January listed as Glaucoma Awareness Month, Prime reached out to Gousy to ask about vision concerns and the importance of eye exams as we age. Here’s what he shared:
Q: What are the most important reasons to keep up with regular eye exams after the age of 45?
“It’s important to keep up regular eye exams at every age, but especially as we get older, as there are some conditions that can come up without any symptoms initially.
“A primary example is glaucoma, a disease of the eye where fluid pressure within the eye is too high and over time it damages the optic nerve. The person doesn’t feel the pressure increasing and initially it doesn’t cause any vision problems. If we catch it early, though glaucoma is not curable, it’s usually treatable with medication and laser surgery and hopefully, the person won’t lose any vision. If glaucoma goes untreated, once the optic nerve is damaged people start to lose vision – it can be the peripheral vision or the central vision. When it gets to the point you notice the loss, it’s a fight to treat the condition to try and preserve what’s left of a person’s vision.
“Another condition that’s often detected as people get a little older is macular degeneration. Again, the condition can start off very slowly, and the person usually doesn’t’ have any symptoms initially. Ultimately, with macular degeneration you lose your central vision, but even someone with the most severe type can still see peripherally.
“There are two types of macular degeneration – the wet type and the dry type. With the wet type – which consists of a bleed over the retina and can often happen very suddenly, it can be treated with medication that can keep the bleeding under control to prevent blindness. The dry type doesn’t have a treatment but has the possibility of converting to the wet type suddenly.
“The third reason for annual eye exams is if you have diabetes - Type 1 or Type 2. You need to be checked for diabetic retinopathy, even if you feel your blood sugar is under control. With diabetic retinopathy the more worrisome thing is losing your central vision – all of sudden you can have a bleed in the macula, and it can cause a loss of vision in a day – it can be that fast.”
Q: We all see floaters or other oddities at some point. Are these vision issues a concern? When should they be checked out?
“Floaters are more common when you get older because the vitreous humor – which is a jelly in the eye – over time changes in consistency and will pull away from the retina and the person will all of a sudden notice a lot of floaters. The problem is that sometimes it can pull on the retina and cause a tear leading to a retinal detachment. If you have a lot of floaters, one should really call their eye doctor and get it checked out to rule out a retinal detachment or tear.
“If you are seeing black strings, that would be floaters as well. People sometimes describe them as cobwebs, long stringy things in front of their vision or hair in front of their eye – like there’s something in front of you and you swipe at it, and it doesn’t go away.
“Along with floaters if you notice what looks like light flashes, that is another symptom that should not be ignored. That is a symptom that could be associated with a retinal detachment.”
Q: We’ve all seen the reading glasses in the drugstore. Are these useful or a bad idea?
“Most people notice they are staring to have trouble reading around midlife – even if a person doesn’t wear glasses for any other reason, they will eventually have trouble reading. You can buy reading glasses at the drug store, but in reality, most people have two different eye corrections, and the drug store pair won’t correct your reading vision the same as getting a prescription pair.
“I tell people if you are doing some quick reading, the drugstore readers are fine, but if you have to be reading on computer for several hours, the prescription glassed can make it easier. The drug store reading glasses are not going to hurt your vision, and some people have the good fortune of having equal eyes, but when the optician measures your pupils, they are going to make glasses that are more optimum for your vision.”