Presbyopia and Getting Older

Home \ News and Events \ Presbyopia and Getting Older

Visit your Boulder, CO Eye Doctor to Find Out About Treatment Options

Presbyopia is a visual impairment that comes with aging in which the ability to focus on close objects becomes significantly diminished. With the growing international population of older adults, more and more people are developing the condition, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.

Many believe that presbyopia is caused because the human eye will often thicken by age 40, making it more difficult for eyes to focus on something, particularly an object nearby. Those with the condition usually deal with near visual impairment by holding a book away from their eyes or standing away from the object they want to focus on. Transitions from looking at far away objects to nearer ones is often straining for people with presbyopia. The strain can worsen the situation by causing eye strain, fatigues or headaches.

The most popular solutions for dealing with presbyopia are bifocals or progressives (PALs). A bifocal lens has two points of focus, the main part of the lens has a prescription for viewing things from a distance and the lower portion of the lens is for looking at objects that are close by. Progressive addition lenses are similar to bifocal lenses, but they provide a more gradual gradient between the two prescriptions and have no visible line between them. Wearers can more easily adjust focus, as they would having normal eyesight. An alternative would be reading glasses which, unlike bifocals or PALs which are worn all day, are used only as needed.

If contacts are preferable, there are other alternatives such as multifocal contacts. Multifocal lenses don't work for everyone and can sometimes be uncomfortable, so it may take a while to figure out if and in what combination they work for you.

Furthermore, there are surgical options available that you may want to discuss with your eye doctor. A lot of patients find the most success by combining options for presbyopia. Additionally, because your eyesight will likely worsen as you age, it is likely that you will be required to continually adjust your correction. With the population growing older, there is quite a bit of research being done to discover more and perhaps more permanent treatments for presbyopia.

If you are beginning to see symptoms of presbyopia, call for a visit with your Boulder, CO eye doctor. Better eyesight is worth it!