Presbyopia
Does Presbyopia Prevent You From Enjoying Work Up Close?
Schedule a consultation with us today for a comprehensive eye exam. Our New York eye specialist will perform a thorough evaluation to create a treatment plan with you to help you regain youthful vision.
What Is Presbyopia?
Presbyopia is the eye’s gradual loss of ability to see nearby objects clearly. This happens because the eye’s natural crystalline lens loses flexibility due to normal aging process. Because presbyopia is caused by normal aging process, the condition cannot be reversed. Like other age-related conditions, it worsens over time.
Presbyopia is not a disease; it is an error in refraction. Incoming light rays are not bent as they should be because the lens is unable to function as well as it did in the past. Presbyopia can be corrected with lenses like other errors of refraction.
There’s no turning back the clock, but you still can enjoy youthful vision. It used to be that failing eyesight was simply part of getting older. With advanced optics technology and availability of blade-less surgery, it doesn’t have to be anymore.
At Focus Eye Care & Surgery in New York, our eye specialist, Dr. Neelofar Ghaznawi, is board-certified to provide general and specialized ophthalmic care. She is a member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, and highly trained and experienced in personalized lens and refractive surgeries to help you regain clearer vision and a more active lifestyle.
Presbyopia is caused by aging lens. At around age 40, the eye’s natural lens becomes harder and less pliable than it used to be.
In young people, the eye’s natural lens contracts or expands depending on whether it needs to look at things up close or farther away. The ciliary muscle controlling the lens is responsible for this ‘accommodation.’
When viewing distant objects, the muscle relaxes to make the lens flatter and thinner; when looking at things up close, the muscle contracts and makes the lens curved and thicker.
Over time, the ability of the lens to accommodate diminishes, reducing its focusing power on nearby objects.
What Are the Symptoms of Presbyopia?
If you get to a certain age and you notice you’re holding reading materials farther away to see the print clearly, you likely have presbyopia. If left uncorrected, presbyopia causes headaches and eye strain.
Getting a regular, comprehensive eye exam is all the more important as you get older. Book a consultation with us today to correct age-related vision problems.
What Are the Treatment Options for Presbyopia?
Eyeglasses & Contact Lenses
A presbyopic lens is no longer able to curve in the center to increase its focusing power for near work. To correct this, convex lenses (thicker in the middle than at the edges) are placed before the eyes.
With convex lenses, incoming light is bent and focused to a sharp single point onto the retina, the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eyes. The result is sharper and clearer vision of nearby objects.
Laser and Refractive surgery
The goal of laser and refractive surgeries is the same as that of prescription lenses, except that the lens itself is implanted in place of the hardened natural lens.
Refractive surgeons perform a surgery similar to cataract surgery, but before the formation of cataracts. Surgery treatment options may not suit everyone, so it’s important to have your treatment plan personalized to your needs and lifestyle goals. The benefits of reduced dependence on eyeglasses should be considered against potential risks.
FAQs About Presbyopia
Presbyopia is a condition of the eye related to aging, in which the lens in your eyes fails to change shape easily with advancing age. This failure of the lens to change shape results in diminished accommodation, and thereby decreases the ability to focus on near objects. Presbyopia can be easily corrected with reading glasses. Other treatment options such as refractive surgery and corneal inlays also can treat presbyopia.
Unfortunately, presbyopia cannot be prevented. Almost everyone over age 40 gradually experiences increasing difficulty with near vision. Although presbyopia cannot be prevented, it can easily be treated with reading glasses.
Presbyopia can be diagnosed by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist with basic eye exams including a refraction assessment test. These are simple outpatient tests that can quickly diagnose presbyopia, and rule out other eye conditions such as glaucoma and cataract.
No, presbyopia is not the same as myopia or hyperopia. In presbyopia, there is a weakness of the suspensory ligaments to relax and contract, due to which the lenses cannot accommodate as well as they used to. Presbyopia is associated with aging, whereas both myopia and hyperopia usually begin in childhood.
Presbyopia is a condition of the eye associated with aging. People usually begin to develop presbyopia in their early 40s. Presbyopia usually keeps worsening until around 60 years of age, after which it stays constant.
Yes, presbyopia is an unavoidable part of aging, akin to wrinkles and whitening of hair. Presbyopia occurs due to a weakness in the ability of the suspensory ligaments to contract and relax, which in turn inhibits the lens from changing shape as needed.
Presbyopia cannot be cured, but it can be easily managed with prescription reading glasses. There are other more permanent treatment options for presbyopia such as laser surgery and corneal inlays.
A convex lens is used for presbyopia correction. Most people prefer to use a bifocal lens to correct presbyopia as it can make both near and distant vision clear.
Are You a Candidate for
Vision Correction?
Whether you just need a general eye exam, or if you are interested in reducing or eliminating your need for glasses or contacts, our team is here to help! Contact us to book an appointment today!
The doctors at Focus Eye Care & Surgery have reviewed and approved this content.
Page Updated: