Night blindness - Night blindness is a condition that makes it difficult or impossible to see in the dark. It is not a disease per se, but a symptom of several eye diseases. The most common cause of night blindness is retinitis pigmentosa, a disorder in which the rod cells in the retina gradually lose their ability to respond to light. This genetic disease is progressive and may eventually affect the daytime vision of patients. Night blindness is also often associated with cataracts. Cataracts cause difficulty with night driving due to the blurring they cause or the glare caused by oncoming headlights. Night blindness can also be a side effect of: macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetes, vitamin A deficiency, and certain medications, such as some drugs used to treat high blood pressure or rheumatoid arthritis. Because of the wide range of diseases that cause night blindness, it is important to see an eye specialist who can help determine the true cause of night blindness. In order to ameliorate night blindness, treatment is directed at the underlying cause.

Dry eyes - Dry eyes are a common, and usually chronic, source of discomfort. Typical symptoms of dry eyes include a burning, itchy, stingy, and a sandy-gritty eye irritation that gets worse as the day progresses. The symptoms are often caused by a loss of water from the tear film, a constant layer of fluid that coats your eyes designed to remain stable between blinks. This loss results in tears that are too "salty". More severe symptoms are sensitivity to light and blurred vision. Both eyes are usually affected. Treatment of dry eyes is aimed at restoring a more normal tear film to minimize dryness and its consequences. Although dry eyes don't usually cause permanent damage, diminished vision may prompt you to seek medical treatment. You can usually treat a mild case of dry eyes with over-the-counter artificial tears. For more severe symptoms, your eye doctor may prescribe cyclosporine (Restasis), the only medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for chronic dry eyes. Your eye doctor may also suggest methods to maintain your natural tears, such as closing your tear ducts with tiny silicone plugs or a more permanent option (thermal cautery). You can take several steps to ameliorate dry eyes: avoid air blowing in your eyes (blow dryers), wear glasses on windy days, keep your home humidity between 30% and 50%, avoid rubbing your eyes, use eye drops preventively instead of after the fact, and remember to blink!

Cataract - Cataracts are an opacity of the lens of the eye that cause blurred vision. Cataracts form for a variety of reasons, including long-term UV light exposure, secondary effects of diseases such as diabetes, or simply due to aging. Genetic factors can cause congenital cataracts and may predispose someone to cataracts at an earlier age. Even though cataracts do not cause a total loss of vision, they can worsen to the point of making you legally blind. The most effective and common treatment is to surgically remove the cloudy lens and replace it with a synthetic lens implant. Although cataracts have no scientifically proven prevention, some suggest that wearing UV light protecting sunglasses and maintaining an antioxidant (such as vitamin C and E) rich diet can help ward off their development.

Geriatrician- Physicians who have specialized training in the care and well-being of older adults.

Pandemic - A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. A flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges for which people have little or no immunity, and for which there is no vaccine. The disease spreads easily person-to-person, causes serious illness, and can sweep across the country and around the world in very short time.

Gene Pool - The gene pool of a species or a population is the complete set of unique alleles. In genetics, an allele is any one of a number of viable DNA codings occupying a given locus (position) on a chromosome. Usually alleles are DNA sequences that code for a gene, but sometimes the term is used to refer to a non-gene sequence. An individual's genotype for that gene is the set of alleles it happens to possess. A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can survive bouts of intense selection. Meanwhile, low genetic diversity (see inbreeding and population bottlenecks) can cause reduced fitness and an increased chance of extinction.

Gerontology- Gerontology is the study of the elderly, and of the aging process itself. It is to be distinguished from geriatrics, which is the study of the diseases of the elderly. Gerontology covers the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging. Gerontology includes these and other endeavors:
• studying physical, mental, and social changes in people as they age.
• investigating the effects of our aging population on society.
• applying this knowledge to policies and programs.
As a result of the multidisciplinary focus of gerontology, professionals from several fields call themselves "gerontologists".

Ageism- Ageism is bias against a person or group on the grounds of their age. When that bias is the primary motivation behind acts of discrimination against that person or group, then those acts constitute age discrimination.