Visit your Fayetteville, NC Eye Doctor to Learn More About Treatment Options
Presbyopia is an age-related condition in which the ability to focus on things at a close distance becomes noticeably reduced. With the growing international population reaching older ages, more and more individuals develop the condition, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.
Theories about the cause of presbyopia are that the eye will often toughen around the age of forty, making it harder for eyes to focus on an object, especially something nearby. Those with the condition often cope with the reduced vision by holding the paper far away or standing away from the object they are looking at. Shifting from looking at distant objects to closer ones is often strenuous for people with presbyopia. The stress might worsen the situation by causing headaches, eye strain or fatigue.
The most common solutions for dealing with presbyopia are bifocals or progressives (PALs). A bifocal lens has two prescriptions for vision, the main part of the lens has a prescription for seeing things at a distance and a second, lower portion for seeing things nearby. Progressive addition lenses are similar to bifocals, but they have a more subtle gradient between the two prescriptions. Users will more easily change visual focus, as they could with uninhibited eyesight. Another option is reading glasses which are usually worn just when needed as opposed to all day.
Presbyopes can also opt for multifocal contacts or monovision lens correction (when one eye is prescribed a correction for distance vision and the other near vision) to deal with their vision impairment. It may take a couple of attempts to determine the optimal use of contacts because different lenses can have an effect on your comfort or distance vision.
There are also options for other procedures including surgery that could be considered that may be worth discussing with your optometrist. A significant number of patients find the most success by using a combination of treatments for presbyopia. Also, since your eyesight will continue to get worse 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 research being done to discover additional and perhaps more permanent treatments for presbyopia.
Noticing symptoms of presbyopia? Book an appointment with your Fayetteville, NC optometrist. Better vision is just a quick call away!
