Contact your Gainesville, FL Optometrist to Learn More About Treatment Options
Many adults at some point experience presbyopia or a reduced ability to focus on things at a close range, as they age. With the growing international population of older adults, more and more individuals are developing the condition, which currently cannot be escaped.
The lenses of your eye curve to focus on objects at varying distances. Some theories are that as you get older, that flexibility gets diminished because the lenses become tougher. This phenomenon is called presbyopia and is often noticed by blurred vision when focusing on things right before your eyes. This usually starts to happen any time after someone turns 40. Sufferers usually deal with the reduced vision by holding a newspaper far away or standing at a distance from the object they want to focus on. Shifting from looking at far away objects to closer ones can often be straining for those with presbyopia. The tension could add further discomfort by causing eye strain, fatigues or headaches.
The most popular corrections for presbyopia are bifocals or progressives (PALs). Bifocal lenses have two prescriptions for vision, one is for distance vision and the other part of the lens is for seeing objects nearby. Progressive addition lenses work similarly to bifocal lenses, but they offer a more gradual gradient between the two prescriptions and have no clear distinction between them. Users can more easily adjust their focus, as they might, if they had normal sight. An alternative would be reading glasses which are usually worn just when needed as opposed to all day.
If contacts are preferable, you might want to consider multifocal lenses. It may take a few tries to come up with the best method and type of contacts due to the fact that different prescriptions can have an effect on your comfort or distance vision.
There are also options for other procedures including surgery available that should be talked over with your optometrist. Many patients are most successful combining treatments for presbyopia. Furthermore, since your eyesight will likely deteriorate as you get older, you will probably be required to continually adjust your correction. The good news is, there continues to be quite a bit of experimental treatment on the market currently to discover more and perhaps more permanent treatments for presbyopia.
If you are beginning to notice signs of presbyopia, call for an appointment with your Gainesville, FL optometrist. Better eyesight is worth it!
Watch animated 3D videos about common eye conditions.