Eyesight and tests

[Linbrusco]

Mum has moderate stage Alzheimers.
Her last eye test was 2 yrs ago, and got a new pair of bifocals, mainly for reading.
As she had the beginnings of a catarct in one eye, she went for further tests, but this was about a year ago when her Alzheimers had become a bit more advanced.
She had to do a field vision test, which she could not complete as she had no hand eye coordination to press a buzzer at appropriate times.

In her care home now, her glasses get locked away at the nurses station at night.
Ocassionaly when we visit we have to ask for her glasses. Mum complains that she has problems seeing.
Without her glasses she can see distance no problem, and can read signs.
Close up and reading she struggles, but I have asked her to read something from a magazine and she read it still OK.
I'm not sure when she says she has problems seeing whether its dementia not connecting two and two togther.
Example, yesterday at her care home, I took her for a walk, and some other residents in the retirement village side were playing indoor bowls. Some of them were seated in a row waiting for their turn. Mum said they were all waiting to get a haircut.
One man was wearing a very pale,fawn coloured shorts and shirt.
Mum said he was naked
This is with her glasses on at a bit of a distance, but no more than 20 meters away.


I know taking her for an eye test now, will be a mission, but probably still manageable.
Her communication is still OK, but will she be able to accurately say what she can see and what she can't? any tips?

 

[teahound]

I had similiar concerns about my mum having an eye test a few years ago, how much would she be able to communicate and would it mean the eye test was less effective.
It was a real relief when the test was done as the optician didn't really need much input from mum and used a lens and a light to examine her eyes. I remembered afterwards that when my son was really young he had his tests done with the same method.
They managed to check her cataracts and give her a new prescription. The lenses they sorted for her allowed her to see much better than before.
My mum had her test done in the residential home so didn't have a field vision test, like your mum she couldn't have managed that. It was a relief not having to take her to the opticians and instead have them come to her.
Hope it all goes well x

 

[canary]

Most care homes have an optician who is used to testing PWDs and comes regularly to the home. Can you check with your CH manager whether they do the same thing?
Mum cant do a fields test anymore either - I dont think it is essential. As teahound says, they usually use lenses and a small handheld light which projects a strip of light and from this the optician can measure what lenses are needed.

If her glasses are correct and her vision is OK then it may be a problem with interpreting what is seen, which is definitely dementia related.

 

[onlyme1]

Hi, this reminds me, I wish I'd taken more notice of my mum. We knew she had a cataract in her left eye but gp at the time wasn't keen to intervene. 2 yrs later new gp referred her, tests showed she were has rubeosis - the eye is blind. If I'd insisted on referral before she may still have use of it. Also, my dad's eye test was done at the CH and he got glasses very similar to old ones (he doesn't like change). I'm guessing the removal of glasses is agreed within the deprivation of liberty documents, if not then surely staff have no right to remove them. Maybe it's different where you are? X

 

[Selinacroft]

Dad has dementia maybe around stage 6 hard to define but also cataracts. He had the Outside Clinic do a home visit and I was surprised how good his vison was when he had the last test done. Sometimes by teh things he says or does you would think he was blind as a bat. I think it may be more dementia than impaired vision plus also poor stooped posture and inability to turn neck. I think the outside field of vision is significantly reduced and they get more tunnel vision. They also have co ordination problems giving the impression for example when trying to poor tea spilling it all the time and missing the cup. Some colours such as black appear as holes and some colours more visible than others. I suppose if the brain is a having a mis conecting moment things are not always interpreted by the brain properly even if the eyes are seeing the right things if that makes sense.

 

[LadyA]

My husband broke his glasses at the nursing home. They got a mobile optician in that specialises in testing very young children, people with communication problems, and people with dementia. No reading charts or answering questions required! My husband also had cataracts developing, but between his consultant and optician they decided that his dementia was advanced enough to make surgery not advisable. It couldn't be done under local anaesthetic, and as they could only do one eye at a time, that would have meant two general anaesthetics - not really a good plan for a pwd- and they felt that as he could no longer read because of the dementia, but was still able to see relatively well generally, it would be a big risk for very little gain.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Talking Point mobile app

 

[sajimjo]

My partner got on well last summer when seen by our optician. But in January this year he had to go to the eye clinic at the hospital as he has glaucoma. He has had both eyes operated on in the past which keeps the pressure down, but one didn't completely work, so he has an eye drop in that eye each night. Clinic wanted to check him. He could not tell them what some letters were. They were good and tried different things but he couldn't read many letters, not because he couldn't see, his eyesight is not bad. This was because of his dementia.

I know his eyesight is OK as he does still do a bit of colouring in adult books and that is always accurate.