Nursing home residents are said to have 15 times more likely to suffer uncorrected vision errors. In contrast, similar older people living in ordinary communities are better cared for. The high rates of uncorrected visual errors such as myopia and hyperopia among nursing home residents are quite likely to cause depression in them. Study findings published in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology in 2007 revealed that depression in those people can be significantly reduced once their visual errors were corrected simply using eyeglasses. Actually these psychological benefits could be easily achieved.
After Kentucky and Missouri, Illinois began mandatory eye exams for children entering public schools in January 2008. Eye exams are crucial for common eye conditions detection such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, amblyopia and strabismus. Without early detection and treatments, these visual problems can greatly affect children’s academic performance. Public schools in Illinois now require children who entering kindergarten or first grade to submit proof that they have received a comprehensive eye exam.
A new device called VIP Virtual Perimetry is now available for visual field testing. This automated method of testing can help detect neurological damage from brain injuries or diseases such as glaucoma. The new device performs this task by identifying blind spots within the visual field. The most significant difference between this new device and conventional visual testing methods is that VIP Virtual Perimetry is automated. Conventional means of visual field testing require subjective response from the patients by hitting a button once there are flashes within different parts of a screen. When it comes to test subjects who are very young or old, conventional visual tests are flawed. In contrast, VIP Virtual Perimetry can automatically detect and measure the eye’s response to visual stimuli.