Aging and Your Eyesight

Visit Your Westerville, OH Optometrist To Learn More About Treatment Options

Presbyopia is an age-related condition in which near vision becomes noticeably diminished. As people worldwide are living longer, a larger number of individuals develop presbyopia, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.

Many believe that presbyopia is caused because the eye will often toughen by age 40, making it harder for eyes to focus on an object, particularly something close by. Sufferers often manage with near visual impairment by holding the paper away from their eyes or standing away from the object they are looking at. Transitions from looking at far off things to nearer ones are often tiring for those with presbyopia. This tension could add to one's discomfort by causing headaches, eye strain or fatigue.

The most common solutions for correcting presbyopia are bifocal lenses or progressive addition lenses (PALs). A bifocal lens is separated into two prescriptions for vision, one is for distance vision and the other part of the lens is for looking at things nearby. Progressive addition lenses are similar to bifocal lenses, however they offer a more subtle gradient between the two prescriptions and have no visible line between them. Wearers can more easily shift their focus, as they could if they had standard vision. A third option is reading glasses which are usually worn just when needed as opposed to all day.

Presbyopes can also consider multifocal contact lenses or monovision lens correction (in which one eye is prescribed a distance vision and the other near vision) to deal with the condition. It may take some time to figure out the best use of contact lenses because different lenses can cause discomfort or blurriness.

There are also options for other procedures including surgery that could be considered that may be worth discussing with your eye doctor. Many people find the most success by combining options for presbyopia. Additionally, since your vision will likely deteriorate with age, it is likely that you will be required to keep adapting the strength of your correction. With the population growing older, there continues to be a significant amount of experimental treatment on the market currently to identify other effective solutions for the growing number of people dealing with presbyopia.

Noticing symptoms of presbyopia? Book a check up with your Westerville, OH eye doctor. Better eyesight is just a phone call away!