All About Presbyopia
Visit your Pell City, AL Optometrist to Learn More About Treatment Options
Many adults eventually begin to experience presbyopia or a reduced ability to see things at a close range, as they get older. As people around the world are living longer, more and more individuals are developing presbyopia, which is an unavoidable result of your aging eye.
Theories about the cause of presbyopia are that the eyes' lenses will begin to harden around age 40, making it harder for the eyes to focus in on an object, especially an object close by. Sufferers often cope with the situation by holding the paper far away or standing away from the object they are looking at. Shifting from focusing on far off objects to nearer ones is often tiring for people with presbyopia. The stress could add further discomfort by causing headaches, eye strain or fatigue.
Most often bifocals or progressives (PALs) are used to deal with presbyopia. A bifocal lens is separated into two points of focus, one is for distance vision and the other part of the lens is for focusing on objects that are close by. Progressive lenses use the same principal as bifocal lenses, but they offer a more gradual transition between the separate prescriptions and have no clear distinction between them. Users will more easily adjust focus, as they could having uninhibited vision. A third option is reading glasses which, unlike bifocals or PALs which are worn all day, are used only when needed.
If contacts are preferable, you might want to consider multifocal contacts. Different people respond differently to multifocal lenses, so it may take some time to figure out if and in what combination they work for you.
There are also surgical options available that should be talked over with your optometrist. A lot of patients find the most success by combining treatments for presbyopia. Also, since presbyopia will likely worsen as you age, you will probably need to continually adjust your correction. With the population growing older, there is a significant amount of experimental treatment on the market currently to identify more and perhaps more permanent treatments for presbyopia.
Noticing symptoms of presbyopia? Call for an appointment with your Pell City, AL eye doctor. A return to normal vision is worth it!
