WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRESBYOPIA

Over time, you may notice that your eyesight is not as sharp as it used to be. Age-related degenerative changes may cause a decline in your visual strength, resulting in a refractive error often referred to as presbyopia. For your understanding, your trusted eye doctor from Advanced Eyecare Consultants talks about this problem in detail.

Root Cause

Your eyes’ natural lenses are supported by a ring of muscle fibers. They help the lenses expand or contract to accommodate light that enters your eyes. As you age, these structures will gradually harden, reducing their flexibility. This may interfere with the light-focusing mechanism in your eyes, possibly resulting in visual impairments.

Risk Factors and Common Manifestations

You may often see adults, particularly those aged 40 years and above, holding a book or newspaper away from them. Changes to your natural lenses may weaken your ocular accommodation ability, causing difficulties seeing persons or objects, especially those near you. You may also develop headaches, eye strain, or eye fatigue when doing close-up tasks. Have your eyes examined by your reliable eye doctor when you experience any of these manifestations.
 

Knowing Its Difference with Farsightedness

You may have noticed that presbyopia symptoms are similar to those of another refractive error known as farsightedness or hyperopia. That said, the two differ in the eye parts and mechanisms affected. While presbyopia involves the lenses, hyperopia happens when your eyes are shorter than the ideal length or your cornea is more rigid than the usual. This structural irregularity causes light concentration at the back of the retina instead of directly on it, resulting in close-range vision problems. Another key difference is that farsightedness often occurs during childhood.

Our Recommended Management

For a more definite diagnosis, we recommend seeing your expert optometrist for a comprehensive eye exam. Upon confirming presbyopia, we may prescribe wearing bifocal lenses, which hold two lens powers for both your close- and far-range viewing ease, separated by a visible junction. We also offer progressive lenses, which work similarly to bifocals minus the defining line for an aesthetic boost. Trifocal lenses work great for presbyopia management as well. They contain three prescriptions to help you see near, intermediate, and distant objects better.

For more information about presbyopia, call us at (847) 994-4500 for Lake Zurich and 847-438-7700 for Libertyville. We serve Gurnee, Vernon Hills, and nearby IL areas.