Due to natural aging process an ability of eye to focus quickly on close objects, loses slowly resulting in presbyopia.
Light entering your eyes passes through cornea and than pupil. After passing through pupil it passes through your lens. This lens changes shape so that it can bend the light rays further, focusing them on retina.
Now once you start aging, ability of the lens to change its shape declines due to which it is unable to bend the light focussing towards retina.
Symptoms of presbyopia
Generally around or after the age of 40 due to declining condition of an eye to read or focus on close objects lead to development of presbyopia, which has become more common nowadays.
Common symptoms of presbyopia are:
- having eyestrain or headaches after reading or doing close work
- having difficulty reading small print
- having fatigue from doing close work
- needing brighter lighting when reading or doing close work
- needing to hold reading material at an arm’s distance to focus properly on it
- overall problems seeing and focusing on objects that are close to you
- squinting
Sometimes condition like Hyperopia or farsightedness a refractive error occurs during birth which is similar to Presbyopia as eye is shorter than normal or eye is too flat. Similar to presbyopia in this condition also light rays focus behind the retina.
Causes of presbyopia
In a young age lens of the eye is flexible and very elastic. It has an ability to change its shape or adjust lens depending on the distance of the objects, with the help of tiny muscles surrounding it.
Now, due to increasing age, lens begin to stiffen, unable to change the shape, unable to focus light on retina resulting in loss of focus on closer objects.
Diagnosis of presbyopia
A regular eye check-up around the age of 40 especially even if there are no symptoms.
Any type of vision changes or occurring refractive error can be diagnosed with proper and early screening of eyes.
Dilation of eyes is needed to examine the eyes appropriately.
By the age of 40 most of the people lose ability to focus on close objects. So age plays important role in developing presbyopia in eyes.
Sometimes symptoms occur earlier than usual which is called premature presbyopia, which could be side effect of certain diseases or drugs.
If you notice the symptoms of presbyopia at an age earlier than the normal onset, it may be a sign of an underlying medical condition.
Following are the symptoms that show you’re at a higher risk of premature presbyopia
- anemia, which is a lack of enough normal blood cells
- cardiovascular disease
- diabetes, or difficulty metabolizing blood sugar
- hyperopia, or farsightedness, which means you have a greater difficulty seeing objects nearby than objects that are far away
- multiple sclerosis, which is a chronic illness that affects your spine and brain
- myasthenia gravis, which is a neuromuscular disorder that affects your nerves and muscles
- eye trauma or disease
- vascular insufficiency, or poor blood flow
As discussed earlier few drugs or medications which affect the eye’s ability to focus on close images are as follows.
- alcohol
- antianxiety drugs
- antidepressants
- antihistamines
- antipsychotics
- antispasmodics
- diuretics
Treatment of presbyopia
Presbyopia has no cure but there are several treatments to correct your vision using corrective lenses, contact lenses or surgery depending on your lifestyle and condition.
- Monovision contact lenses require you to wear a contact lens set for distance vision in one eye and a different contact lens set for close work in your other eye.
Though there is no specific technique to prevent presbyopia as eyes ability to focus on near objects affects everyone by age or other related factors, still below are few steps that might help save your vision.
- Get regular eye examinations.
- Control chronic health conditions that could contribute to vision loss, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
- Wear sunglasses.
- Wear protective eyeglasses when participating in activities that could result in eye injury.
- Eat a healthy diet with foods containing antioxidants, vitamin A, and beta carotene.
- Make sure you’re using the right strength of eyeglasses.
- Use good lighting when reading.
Always consult your eye doctor or eye specialist if you find difficulty or changes in your vision. Most of the eye diseases or refractive errors can be corrected with early diagnosis and treatment.
