Older adults more susceptible to eye damage from trauma, computer simulation suggests

The increasing stiffness of the aging lens may add to older patients’ susceptibility to eye damage following trauma, according to a computer simulation.

Using a computer model of the eye, Joel D. Stitzel, PhD, and colleagues at Wake Forest University compared possible injury mechanisms in the eyes of older people and the effects of lens stiffness on the injuries predicted by the model.

“General testing of the mechanical characteristics of the entire lens suggests that aging of the human lens is associated with a progressive loss of mechanical strength,” Dr. Stitzel said in a press release from Wake Forest.

As the lens stiffens with age, an increased risk of eye injury develops, “not only to the lens itself but also to other internal components of the eye, resulting in increasing risk of tearing of internal structures of the eye and bleeding,” he said in the release.

Dr. Stitzel suggested that all people — especially those who are elderly — sit as far back from car air bags as comfortable, and that, if they wear glasses, they should be fitted with impact-resistant polycarbonate lenses.