Presbyopia is the age-related loss of focusing that blurs near vision when people reach their late thirties or early forties. It is unavoidable. Everyone develops presbyopia. Whether you have nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, when you reach that certain age, you will experience presbyopia.
Presbyopia develops as the lens in the eye naturally ages. The lens loses its flexibility and thus its ability to change focus from far to near. Not everyone will notice the change if they have the right amount of nearsightedness or astigmatism. If the nearsightedness or astigmatism is first corrected, the presbyopia becomes apparent.
Theses are a few of the signs and symptoms of presbyopia:
1) needing more light to read text
2) holding reading material farther away to read
3) discomfort when looking at near objects
Life with presbyopia is a compromise. Correcting presbyopia requires some kind of correction to allow one or both eyes to see near. The type of correction will depend on how you use your eyes. Often, several different corrections may be necessary to maximize your vision in different situations
Although glasses and contact lenses and refractive surgery offer the best correction at this time, future treatment may involve a presbyopic lens implant. Several of these lenses are currently available (see In The News-Focusing Implants) for the treatment of cataracts. They are improving in design and functionality every year.
If you are having any difficulty seeing near things and you are in your late thirties or early forties, you probably have presbyopia. Give us a call and we will be glad to help keep you functioning at your best.