Aging and Your Eyesight - Presbyopia
Contact your Lincoln, NE Optometrist to Find Out About Treatment Options
Presbyopia is an age-related condition in which objects at a close range, such as newspapers, books or sewing, become blurred. With the increasing international population reaching older ages, a larger number of people are developing presbyopia, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.
Many believe that presbyopia is caused because the eyes' lenses will begin to lose flexibility by age forty, making it more difficult for eyes to focus in on something, especially something nearby. Sufferers usually manage with near visual impairment by holding a book far away or standing at a distance from the object they want to focus on. Transitions from looking at far away things to closer ones are often straining for people with presbyopia. The tension might add to one's discomfort by causing eye strain, fatigues or headaches.
The most common solutions for dealing with presbyopia are bifocal lenses or progressive addition lenses (PALs). Bifocal lenses have two points of focus, one is for distance vision and a second, lower portion for focusing on objects nearby. Progressive lenses use the same principal as bifocal lenses, but the transitions between the two prescriptions are more gradual. Wearers will more easily change focus, as they could if they had normal sight. A third option is reading glasses which are usually worn just when needed as opposed to all day.
If contact lenses are preferable, you might want to consider multifocal contacts. Multifocals don't work for everyone and can sometimes be uncomfortable, so it may take a few tries to decide if and in what combination they work for you.
In addition, there are options for other procedures including surgery that could be considered that may be worth discussing with your optometrist. A significant number of people are most successful using a combination of treatments for presbyopia. Additionally, since presbyopia will continue to deteriorate with age, you will probably need to keep adapting your prescription. With the population growing older, there continues to be quite a bit of experimental treatment on the market currently to identify more and perhaps more permanent solutions for the growing number of people dealing with presbyopia.
If you are starting to see symptoms of presbyopia, schedule a check up with your Lincoln, NE optometrist. A return to normal eyesight can be yours!
