Blog Post

Add Life to Your Years: September is Healthy Aging Month

September marks the beginning of Healthy Aging Month, a time to celebrate growing older while taking proactive steps to protect our health and quality of life. While conversations about healthy aging often highlight diet, exercise, and mental well-being, it’s equally important not to overlook eye health.

Why Vision Matters in Healthy Aging

Vision plays a central role in independence, safety, and overall well-being. As we age, the risk of developing eye diseases also increases:

  • The risk of dry eye increases with age, with the highest prevalence among those aged 55 to 64 years.1
  • Aging is one of the most serious risk factors for glaucoma2
  • Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in those over the age of 55, and the second leading cause of vision loss in Canada3
  • Impaired vision in older adults can lead to social isolation, difficulty walking, a higher risk of falls and fractures, and early entry into nursing homes.4 

The Role of Regular Eye Exams

For diseases like AMD, the early stages often have no symptoms. As AMD progresses, individuals may experience blurry or wavy central vision, colour disturbances, and difficulty seeing in low light.

Regular comprehensive eye examinations that include diagnostic tests and imaging, including optical coherence tomography (OCT) tests, play a critical role in early detection of many of the diseases that become more prevalent as we age. Early intervention can prevent severe vision loss, reducing workplace accidents, disability claims, and maintaining productivity. Optometrists are on the front lines of vision care and can detect changes in eye health in a comprehensive eye exam long before symptoms appear, making early treatment and management possible. Beyond eye health, routine exams can also uncover broader health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

For older adults, the Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends a comprehensive eye exam every year. Early detection and timely care can mean the difference between maintaining independence and facing preventable vision loss.

What Can Be Done?

Healthy aging is about more than adding years to life, it’s about adding life to years. Vision care is a key part of that equation. Stay informed about your eye health and visit your optometrist for a comprehensive eye exam every 12 months if you are over the age of 65. Early detection and treatment are key. Yet with little to no public vision coverage for working-age adults in many provinces, many people delay care. Group vision care benefits can help fill this gap, but there are still gaps. Most plans either don’t cover diagnostics during initial examinations, or their allowance is insufficient. Follow-up visits for monitoring or treatment are rarely covered under group plans.

The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends that a comprehensive vision care benefit should support the early detection and effective management of eye diseases related to aging: 

  • Ensure a sufficient allowance for diagnostic imaging in your comprehensive exam benefit. Diagnostic imaging plays a critical role in identifying and monitoring conditions. An appropriate allowance ensures that optometrists can employ modern tools to assess eye health during comprehensive exams.
  • Ensure diagnostic imaging is a covered service under your comprehensive eye exam benefit.
  • Add an allowance for partial or follow-up examinations between comprehensive eye examinations. When an optometrist is monitoring an existing eye condition or suspects the existence of one, such as dry eye, glaucoma, or AMD, recall visits are required between routine comprehensive exams. Including a specific allowance for partial or follow-up visits helps ensure timely care, early intervention, and better outcomes for patients.

You will find more information on prevention, early detection and managing diseases through CAO blogs, podcasts, and webinars. Want to know more? You can find our handbook and blog posts here on the Don't Lose Sight website or contact the CAO for more information or assistance at info@opto.ca

  1. Caffery B, Srinivasan S, Reaume CJ, et al. Prevalence of dry eye disease in Ontario, Canada: A population-based survey. Ocul Surf. 2019;17(3):526-531. doi:10.1016/j.jtos.2019.02.011
  2. Zhang Y, Huang S, Xie B, Zhong Y. Aging, Cellular Senescence, and Glaucoma. Aging Dis. 2024;15(2):546-564. Published 2024 Apr 1. doi:10.14336/AD.2023.0630-1
  3. Deloitte. The cost of vision loss and blindness in Canada. Canadian Council of the Blind. 2021. https://www.fightingblindness.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Deloitte-Cost-of-vision-loss-and-blindness-in-Canada-report-May-2021.pdf
  4. GBD 2019 Blindness and Vision Impairment Collaborators; Vision Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study. Trends in prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment over 30 years: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet Glob Health. 2021;9(2):e130-e143. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30425-3

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Add Life to Your Years: September is Healthy Aging Month