Personal Injury Lawyers > Personal Injury Blog > Slip and Fall > Use of Glasses with Multifocal Lenses Could Increase Fall Risks in Senior Citizens

Personal Injury Blog

Use of Glasses with Multifocal Lenses Could Increase Fall Risks in Senior Citizens

Glasses with multifocal lenses have been very popular with senior citizens. These glasses allow the elderly to look at nearby objects as well as far distances, without having to change lenses, or wear different pairs of glasses. In fact, multifocal lenses are especially useful in activities like driving, in which the motorist may not only have to look further ahead into the distance, but also closer, such as the speedometer. Multifocal lenses are also very useful when a person is shopping, allowing them to identify distant aisles that they want to browse, as well as nearby cans and containers just a few inches from their faces. When you consider that more and more elderly people in California and around the country are choosing to live independent and mobile lives well into their 70s and 80s, you understand how much glasses with multifocal lenses can help these people go about their daily tasks.

However, new research seems to suggest that all the advantages of glasses with multifocal lenses may have come at a cost – the increased risk of a fall. Researchers in Australia have published the results of a study into fall risks among elderly persons who wear glasses with multifocal lenses. The study found that people who wore these glasses, were actually at a higher risk for slip and fall accidents.

There were a total of 606 senior citizens in the study. The average age of participants was 80. The group was divided equally into two subgroups. The first group was given two pairs of single focal lens glasses. They were warned about the dangers of using glasses with multifocal lenses, including the high risks of fall accidents. They were asked to wear the distance pairs of glasses when they went out of the house. The second subgroup was asked to continue using their multifocal lenses. The two groups were asked to make a record of their falls over a period of 13 months.

The researchers found that overall, the number of slip and fall accidents dropped by 8% among the group that was wearing the single focal lenses. However, the difference became really apparent when the researchers considered fall accidents among elderly who spent a lot of time outdoors. The researchers found that senior citizens who went outside at least two or three times a week and were wearing single focal lenses, had their risk of suffering a fall accident drop by drop by approximately 40%.

The study seems to indicate that the risk of suffering a slip and fall accident outdoors seems to decrease when the elderly person is wearing single focal lenses. This could be because wearing multifocal lenses prevents the person from noticing pavement cracks, tree roots, or other potential fall risks just ahead of him.

Researchers are advising elderly persons to consider switching to single focal lenses to avoid the risk of falls. However, California slip and fall accident lawyers advise that this change may not be so easy to make for older persons who may not find it easy to use two separate pairs of glasses for near and distance use.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of slip and fall accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

---