Visit your Rye Brook, NY Optometrist to Find Out About Treatment Options
Presbyopia is a visual impairment related to aging in which objects at a close range, such as newspapers, books or sewing, become blurred. With the growing worldwide population of older adults, a significant number of individuals develop presbyopia, which currently cannot be escaped.
The lenses of your eye curve to focus on objects at varying distances. Some believe that with age, that elasticity diminishes since the natural lenses lose their give. This phenomenon is called presbyopia and is often first noticed by an increased difficulty focusing on things right before your eyes. This often begins to happen around the age of 40. Sufferers often deal with the situation by holding the paper away from their eyes or standing back from the object they are looking at. Shifting from focusing on far away objects to nearer ones is often strenuous for those with presbyopia. The strain could add further discomfort resulting in headaches, eye strain or fatigue.
Most commonly bifocals or progressive addition lenses (PALs) are used to correct presbyopia. Bifocal lenses are separated into two prescriptions for vision, the main part of the lens has a prescription for seeing things from far away and a second, lower portion for seeing things that are close by. PALs use the same principal as bifocals, however they offer a more subtle gradient between the separate prescriptions and have no visible line between them. Users will more easily shift their focus, as they might with uninhibited sight. An alternative would be reading glasses which, unlike bifocals or PALs which are worn continually, are used only as needed.
If contacts are preferable, there are other alternatives such as multifocal contact lenses. It may take a while to figure out the optimal use of contacts since different lenses can affect your comfort or distance vision.
Furthermore, there are surgical options available that may be worth discussing with your optometrist. A significant number of patients are most successful combining treatments for presbyopia. Furthermore, because presbyopia will continue to deteriorate with age, it is likely that you will need to keep adapting your prescription. The positive news is, there continues to be a significant amount of research being done to identify more effective solutions for the growing number of people dealing with presbyopia.
Noticing signs of presbyopia? Book a visit with your Rye Brook, NY eye doctor. A return to normal vision is worth it!