Presbyopia

What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia will affect the majority of us as we age. It’s a natural part of the ageing process, and presbyopic symptoms appear gradually as we age. Around the age of 40, most people begin to notice changes in their close vision. In fact, the term “presbyopia” is derived from a Greek word that means “old eye.”

It’s nothing to be concerned about because it’s a common condition, and it’s simple to work presbyopia into your daily routine. To correct their vision, most people with presbyopia use reading glasses, multifocal contact lenses, or a combination of the two.

The cornea and the lens work together to focus light onto the retina at the back of the eye, forming an image. The lens flexes more as the object gets closer. When you look away from something, the circular muscle around the cornea relaxes. When you focus your attention on something nearby, the muscle constricts, allowing the relatively elastic lens to curve and change its focusing power.

The lens in younger eyes with no vision problems is usually softer and thus easier to curve and flex. However, as we age, the lens can harden. Presbyopia is caused by the natural hardening of the lens of your eye, which occurs as you age.

As your lens loses flexibility, it becomes more difficult to change shape to focus on close-up objects, affecting your vision.

Even if you’ve never needed glasses, you may find that you need them later in life for close-up tasks like reading, looking at your phone, or even driving.

What are the signs and symptoms of presbyopia?

Have you noticed that text is becoming more difficult to read? Do you have difficulty seeing clearly when using your phone or laptop, or when doing close-up work? You could be experiencing the early stages of presbyopia. It’s completely normal, and most of us begin to notice it around the age of 40.

Presbyopia is characterised by the following symptoms:

• Having trouble reading small print
• Holding reading material at arm’s length to properly focus on it
• Having blurry vision at a normal reading distance (approx. 35 cm)
• Having headaches or eye strain after reading or doing close work
• When reading or doing close work, brighter lighting is required.
• Overall issues noticing and concentrating on nearby objects
• Squinting to focus on an object
• Close-up vision blur

The signs and symptoms of presbyopia are fairly simple to identify. Close-up tasks, such as reading or sewing, will become more difficult. The longer you keep something from yourself, the clearer it becomes.

Treatments

Presbyopia glasses

If you don’t already wear glasses, a pair of prescription reading glasses may be all you need to improve your vision for close-up tasks. If you already wear glasses, varifocal or multifocal lenses, which combine close, middle, and distance vision into a single pair of glasses, may be beneficial.

Surgery for presbyopia

If wearing glasses or contact lenses isn’t an option for you, presbyopia lens surgery may be an option. During the procedure, the natural eye lens is removed and replaced with a multifocal lens implant. Consider multifocal lens implants to be similar to permanent varifocal glasses or contact lenses.

There are also laser-based techniques that work on the cornea to provide more near focus in one eye. Presbyopia surgery, on the other hand, is typically not available on the NHS, so patients will frequently seek out a private practice for this procedure.

Presbyopia contact lenses

Some people prefer contact lenses to glasses as a treatment for presbyopia. If you already wear contact lenses, multifocal contact lenses may be a good option for you. They’re made to accommodate different vision types in one lens (near, mid-range, and distance), just like varifocal glasses.

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