MERRIAM, Kan. -- Aging affects vision in most of us, but women are much more prone to eye disease than men, KMBC's Kelly Eckerman reported.

When Sharon Redeker was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, she didn't realize all the ways it would affect her health, including her vision. Redeker suffers from extremely dry eyes.

"It's very noticeable whne you have it because your eyes feel dry and gritty. They bother you. You want to rub your eyes all the time. You really notice it after reading. Your eyes really feel the strain," Redeker said.

Eckerman reported that women are four times more likely than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, women are more prone to many autoimmune diseases. They are also twice as likely to develop macular degeneration.

"I think it's a combination of variations in the immune system, hormonal changes and the fact that women age longer is the reason women typically have more problems in their lifetime than men do," Dr. Robert Thompson said.

With some eye diseases, you don't notice symptoms until the damage is done, which is why regular eye exams are important.

"With tears in the cornea, you can actually go blind and need a transplant, so I really want to stay on top o it so that doesn't happen," Redeker said.

Because women are at greater risk of eye disease, prevention is especially important.

"You can't control your family history. We're not going to be able to control aging. But we can make good lifestyle decisions and one of those would be to stop smoking, to exercise and eat a healthy diet," Thompson said.

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Learn more about women's eye health.