Has it become increasingly difficult for your eyes to focus on up-close objects? If you are in your forties or older, you may have presbyopia.
It’s inevitable that you will experience presbyopia as you age. Fortunately, it is also treatable, and not just with reading glasses.
There are procedures that can permanently correct presbyopia. Keep reading to learn more about presbyopia and how eye doctors treat this common condition!
What Is Presbyopia?
Presbyopia is another name for age-related farsightedness. It causes your near vision to be blurry.
Presbyopia begins to affect most people when they reach their mid-forties, but the timeframe can vary from person to person. When you have presbyopia, your eyes have trouble focusing on up-close objects, such as while reading a book or looking at a computer screen.
Many people with presbyopia will squint or hold objects farther away because it is easier to see them that way. Uncorrected presbyopia can lead to additional symptoms, including headache and eye strain.
Symptoms often worsen when the person feels fatigued or when the environment around them is dimly lit. Presbyopia progresses gradually.
When you first notice it, it might not trouble you much. However, it will continue to worsen, typically until the individual reaches their mid-sixties.
Presbyopia is extremely common since it is a natural part of the aging process within the eyes.
What Causes Presbyopia?
Presbyopia is a part of the aging process, so it cannot be prevented.
The lens is the part of the eye that bends light in order to focus it. When you are younger, if you do not have any other eye conditions affecting this ability, it is easy for the lens to focus light.
However, as you get older, this ability declines. Over time, especially in middle age, it becomes harder for the lens to change shape to focus on up-close objects.
The lens must change shape every time you look at an object that is positioned at a different distance. In order to focus on up-close objects, it becomes longer.
In people with presbyopia, the lens cannot move to allow the light to land directly on your retina. This is due to decreased flexibility.
Over the years, different structures in the eye lose flexibility, including the lens, and become more rigid. As a result, up-close objects appear blurry.
How Is Presbyopia Treated?
Presbyopia can be diagnosed during a routine eye exam. Then, several treatment options are capable of restoring sharpness to your vision.
Frequently, many patients with presbyopia pick up a pair of reading glasses. While this may be effective enough at first, as time progresses and the condition progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to see up-close objects clearly, even with reading glasses.
Monovision glasses or contact lenses are a common treatment for presbyopia. With this type of visual aid, the two lenses contain different powers.
One helps with near vision, and the other helps with distance vision. This allows your eyes to shift between different distances and see both clearly without having to put on reading glasses.
Multifocal contact lenses are another option for correcting presbyopia. They are called “multifocal” because they come with multiple focal points that allow your vision to seamlessly transition between distances.
Monovision laser vision correction is a form of permanently correcting presbyopia without the need for glasses or contacts. In this case, the cornea is reshaped using advanced laser technology.
Like with monovision glasses or contact lenses, the eyes are treated for different distances. Finally, as one of the latest developments in presbyopia correction, special implants can be inserted that allow you to see up-close objects clearly again.
These lenses permanently replace your natural lenses. They can also improve your distance vision.
Will Cataract Surgery Treat Presbyopia?
Cataract surgery has the potential to treat presbyopia. However, it depends on the type of intraocular lens, or IOL, you choose.
Cataracts form inside the lens of the eye. So, during cataract surgery, the natural lens is removed.
A synthetic implant, commonly referred to as an IOL, is then positioned in its place. There are many types of IOLs available, depending on your needs and goals. Some can correct presbyopia.
If you want to treat your presbyopia at the same time that you are having a cataract removed, a premium IOL can allow you to achieve your desired outcome. Your eye doctor can review all of your IOL options and assist you in selecting the ideal one.
A presbyopia-correcting implant can also be inserted during Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE). RLE is similar to cataract surgery but is performed with the goal of making vision clearer when there is no cataract present.
Are you worried you might have presbyopia? Regain your visual clarity by scheduling an appointment at Cheema MD Eye Care in Kingston, NY, today!
