All About Presbyopia
Contact your Miami Beach, FL Optometrist to Learn More About Treatment Options
Many adults eventually begin to experience presbyopia or a diminished ability to focus on things that are close, as they age. As people worldwide are living longer, more and more people are developing the condition, which currently cannot be avoided.
Many believe that presbyopia is caused because the eye will often thicken by the age of 40, making it harder for eyes to focus in on an object, especially an object nearby. Sufferers often manage with near visual impairment by holding the paper away from their eyes or standing back from the object they want to focus on. Transitions from focusing on far away objects to closer ones can often be tiring for people with presbyopia. This strain could worsen the situation by causing eye strain, fatigues or headaches.
The most common corrections for presbyopia are bifocal lenses or progressive addition lenses (PALs). A bifocal lens has two prescriptions for vision, the main part of the lens has a prescription for viewing objects at a distance and the lower portion of the lens is for looking at objects nearby. PALs use the same principal as bifocals, but the transitions between the two prescriptions are more gradual and have no clear line between them. Users can more easily shift visual focus, as they could if they had normal sight. An alternative would be reading glasses which, unlike bifocals or PALs which are worn all day, are used only as needed.
If contacts are preferred over eyeglasses, there are other options such as multifocal contacts. Multifocal lenses don't work for everyone and can sometimes cause discomfort or vision difficulties, so it may take a few tries to decide if and in what combination they work for you.
There are also options for other procedures including surgery that could be considered that may be worth discussing with your eye doctor. A significant number of people find the most success by combining treatments for presbyopia. Additionally, because your eyesight will continue to worsen with age, it is likely that you will be required to continually adjust the strength of your correction. With the population growing older, there continues to be quite a bit of experimental treatment on the market currently to discover additional and perhaps more permanent solutions for the growing number of people dealing with presbyopia.
If you are beginning to notice signs of presbyopia, book a check up with your Miami Beach, FL optometrist. Improved vision is worth it!
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