What is presbyopia

Presbyopia (which literally means "aging eye") is an age-related eye condition that makes it more difficult to see very close.

When you are young, the lens in your eye is soft and flexible. The lens of the eye changes its shape easily, allowing you to focus on objects both close and far away.
After the age of 40, the lens becomes more rigid. Because the lens can’t change shape as easily as it once did, it is more difficult to read at close range. This normal condition is called presbyopia.

Since nearly everyone develops presbyopia, if a person also has myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) or astigmatism, the conditions will combine. People with myopia may have fewer problems with presbyopia.

Causes of Presbyopia
Unlike other refractive errors such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism, presbyopia is caused by an age-related process that leads to the eye's lens losing its flexibility.
It is generally believed that as we age, changes in the lens’s proteins make the lens more rigid and less flexible over time. Also, muscles surrounding the lens may lose their elasticity. As the lens becomes less flexible and able to change shape as easily as it used to, the eye has a harder time focusing on close objects.
This is why people over age 40 often find themselves holding reading material farther away to be able to see it clearly.

How do you see with presbyopia

Presbyopia Symptoms.
Some of the signs and symptoms of presbyopia include eyestrain, headaches or feeling tired from doing up-close work. One of the most obvious signs of presbyopia is the need to hold reading materials at arm's length in order to focus properly. Symptoms of presbyopia include:

• The need to hold reading material at arm's length.
• Blurred vision at a normal reading distance.
• Headaches or fatigue from doing close work.

While hyperopia is usually present from birth, presbyopia develops later — usually around age 40.
When presbyopia starts.
Presbyopia may begin as early as age 36 or as late as 50. Persons with no refractive error (no need for corrective lenses) will usually notice presbyopia in their mid-40s.
Farsighted persons will note presbyopia earlier, especially when they are not wearing their glasses.

Presbyopia Diagnosis.
Presbyopia is diagnosed by a basic eye exam. A complete eye exam involves a series of tests. Your eye doctor likely will put drops in your eyes to dilate your pupils. This may make your eyes more light sensitive for a few hours after the exam. Dilation enables your doctor to more easily evaluate the inside of your eyes.
Your doctor may use various instruments, aim bright lights at your eyes and ask you to look through several lenses to test your distance and close-up vision. Each test allows your doctor to evaluate a different aspect of your vision.
Contact Lenses and Presbyopia.
Multifocal contact lenses are also available with additional variations in power to correct near, intermediate, and far vision. Monovision is another contact lens option for correcting presbyopia, where one eye wears a near vision lens, and the other eye wears a distance vision lens.

Frames and lenses for Presbyopia.

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