How Age Affects Your Eyesight - Presbyopia
Visit your Dallastown, PA Eye Doctor to Learn More About Treatment Options
Many adults at some point experience presbyopia or a reduced ability to see objects that are close, as they get older. With the increasing international population reaching older ages, more and more individuals are developing presbyopia, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.
The lenses of your eye bend to focus on objects at differing distances. Some believe that with age, that curvature gets diminished since the lenses lose their give. This phenomenon is called presbyopia and is defined by difficulty focusing on things at a close distance. This usually can start to take place around someone turns 40. Sufferers usually cope with near visual impairment by holding a newspaper far away or standing back from the object they want to focus on. Shifting from focusing on far away objects to nearer ones can often be straining for those with presbyopia. This strain can add to one's discomfort resulting in headaches, eye strain or fatigue.
The most common solutions for correcting presbyopia are bifocals or progressive addition lenses (PALs). A bifocal lens has two points of focus, the upper portion is for distance vision and the lower portion of the lens is for focusing on objects nearby. Progressive addition lenses are similar to bifocals, but they offer a more subtle gradient between the two prescriptions. Wearers can more easily shift their focus, as they might if they had normal vision. An alternative would be reading glasses which, unlike bifocals or PALs which are worn all day, are used only as needed.
Presbyopes can also consider multifocal contacts or monovision lens correction (when one eye is prescribed a distance vision and the other near vision) to improve their vision impairment. Individuals respond differently to multifocal lenses, so it may take some time to decide if and in what combination they work for you.
In addition, there are options for other procedures including surgery available that may be worth discussing with your optometrist. Many people are most successful combining treatments for presbyopia. Additionally, since your eyesight will continue to deteriorate with age, it is likely that you will be required to continually adjust the strength of your correction. The good news is, there continues to be a significant amount of experimental treatment on the market currently to discover more and perhaps more permanent treatments for presbyopia.
If you are beginning to notice signs of presbyopia, call for an appointment with your Dallastown, PA optometrist. Improved vision is worth it!
Follow our Tweets
