Contact your Fort Wayne, IN Optometrist to Learn More About Treatment Options

Presbyopia is a visual impairment related to aging in which objects at a close range, such as newspapers, books or sewing, become blurred. As people worldwide are reaching older ages, more and more individuals are developing presbyopia, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.

Your eye's lenses curve to focus on objects at differing distances. Some theorize that as you grow older, that elasticity gets diminished because the natural lenses become tougher. This phenomenon is called presbyopia and is defined by difficulty reading or seeing objects at a close distance. This usually starts to happen any time after the age of forty. Those with presbyopia usually manage with the reduced vision by holding the paper away from their eyes or standing at a distance from the object they are looking at. Transitions from looking at distant objects to nearer ones can often be strenuous for those with presbyopia. This tension could worsen the situation resulting in headaches, eye strain or fatigue.

The most common corrections for presbyopia are bifocals or progressive addition lenses (PALs). Bifocal lenses have two prescriptions for vision, one is for distance vision and the other part of the lens is for seeing things nearby. Progressive lenses are similar to bifocal lenses, but they provide a more subtle transition between the two prescriptions. Users can more easily adjust visual focus, as they could if they had normal eyesight. An alternative would be reading glasses which, unlike bifocals or PALs which are worn all day, are used only as needed.

Presbyopes can also opt for multifocal contact lenses or monovision lens correction (in which one eye is prescribed a correction for distance vision and the other near vision) to improve their vision impairment. Individuals adjust differently to multifocal lenses, so it may take a while to figure out if and in what combination they work for you.

There are also surgical options that could be considered that you may want to discuss with your eye doctor. A significant number of patients find the most success by combining treatments for presbyopia. Furthermore, because your eyesight will likely get worse with age, you will probably need to continually adjust your correction. With the population growing older, there is a significant amount of research being done to identify other and perhaps more permanent solutions for patients with presbyopia.

Seeing signs of presbyopia? Book a visit with your Fort Wayne, IN optometrist. A return to normal eyesight is worth it!