The young adult who presents with visual impairment is often the most difficult to manage. Patients in this age group are often the breadwinner and visual impairment results in loss or change of employment, driving, and often in profound changes in interpersonal relationships and roles.
It is important to remember that, for terms of prognosis and future career choices. Those who have had problems since childhood are often coping well and can proceed with appropriate careers; it is the newly diagnosed who require much support and also detailed genetic counseling regarding transmission of the disease to future offspring.
Here are several suggestions about low vision aids:
- As get older, management of those with a stable childhood condition involves:
- The provision of low vision aids for new tasks (employment), CCTVs, large print computer access programs, and distance monocular as their world becomes bigger and motility needs increase.
- The consideration and discussion of registration as adult ‘state benefits’ often kick-in for those on the Blind Register.
- Discussion of changes in accommodation power in those with nystagmus, albinism, ect. Those patients may no near vision aids or suffer from headaches, eyestrain and limited concentration.
- Remembering that those who suffer from heritable conditions may develop progressive myopia, but might not need it corrected until 18 or 20 years of age.
- Those with adult-onset blindness or visual impairment need follow-up advice on lighting and good posture. In particular, diabetics who have progressive and variable visual loss need regular follow-up and versatile low vision aids with good contrast enhancement.
- Adults who need low vision aids for home use may also require more discrete portable or handheld video magnifiers with high magnification and good image quality
