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Presbyopia
Presbyopia is a health condition that occurs with age as the eye loses flexibility and its ability to focus on near objects. While presbyopia’s exact mechanisms are not fully known with 100 percent certainty, research shows it is strongly correlated with a loss of elasticity in the crystalline lens. Before the age of 40, most people’s crystalline lens of the eye can focus on both near and distant objects by changing thickness. Sometime in the early to mid-forties, the crystalline lens often loses its ability to change thickness, which generally leads to presbyopia.
The first symptoms of presbyopia that most people recognize are difficulty reading in low light, difficulty reading fine print, eye strain after reading for extended periods of time, and blurriness when transitioning between near and far viewing distances. A common feeling at the onset of presbyopia is that one’s “arms have become too short” as one tries to move reading materials farther and farther away from the eyes in order to focus. The symptoms of presbyopia are usually more noticeable in dim light and less noticeable in bright daylight.
While it may seem that presbyopia occurs very suddenly, it actually occurs gradually over the course of many years. An individual may not notice any difference in sight when the lenses first start losing flexibility, but the change becomes quite noticeable once the elasticity loss has occurred to a larger degree. This usually happens in the early to mid-forties.
A complete examination by an eye doctor will accurately determine the presence of presbyopia. Treatment has advanced significantly with the readily available abundance of over-the-counter reading glasses. Your doctor can also prescribe contact lenses or more precisely prescribed reading glasses to match the exact degree of presbyopia in each eye. Additionally, many new surgical procedures provide very successful solutions for those who prefer not to wear corrective lenses.
This includes LASIK and LENSIK procedures.