What Causes Presbyopia?
What causes presbyopia (aka over age 40 vision)? This is a common question amongst patients around age 40 or older. Do you have the need to wear a pair of reading glasses when flipping through the newspaper or your favorite book? Do you have to hold your phone far away from your face to read the text on the screen? This inability to read something up close is called presbyopia.
Presbyopia is a condition caused by the natural aging process of your eyes during which an individual begins to lose the ability to focus visually on nearby objects. The lenses in our eyes begin to lose flexibility around age 40 and become hardened, which makes it more difficult to see objects that are nearby. For more information on presbyopia and how it is diagnosed, view our article on What is near vision?
Though this condition is becoming more common amongst adults, there are several means of presbyopia treatment to alleviate symptoms.
Symptoms of presbyopia
Presbyopia does not have many cut-and-dry symptoms. To put it plainly, if you have to hold your phone screen far away from your face to read a text message, it’s likely you have presbyopia. Eyestrain and headaches when doing close-up work or struggling to read small print are also common symptoms.
Presbyopia can occur regardless of your vision history and affects all races and genders. Because presbyopia is caused by aging, it has been nicknamed the “over age 40 vision.” Even if you haven’t experienced eye problems in the past, all eye doctors recommend getting checked for presbyopia as you turn 40.
How do you fix presbyopia?
Can you prevent presbyopia? No, presbyopia is caused by the natural aging process. Receiving regular eye checkups before and after you turn 40 increases your chances of having healthy eyes for longer. However, there are treatment options available for alleviating the symptoms.
Many people choose to wear bifocals to correct their near vision, but there are some patients who prefer to live life glasses-free. In that case, we would recommend eye surgery. Eye Center of Texas offers simple surgery options for presbyopia treatment:
- Refractive lens exchange (RLE) is a procedure in which a doctor replaces your eye’s natural lens with a synthetic one (an intraocular lens) which can help treat presbyopia. This is a more common method for treating near vision problems.
- Conventional LASIK surgery is not performed to cure presbyopia; however, there is a specific LASIK for presbyopia procedure called Monovision LASIK in which one eye (typically your dominant eye) will be corrected while the other eye is is made partially nearsighted (also known as blended vision LASIK). Find out if you’re a good candidate for LASIK procedure on our website.
The advanced technology at Eye Center of Texas is designed to improve vision problems in aging eyes. It’s never too late or too early to start thinking about presbyopia treatment.
Our experts at Eye Center of Texas are here to help you find presbyopia relief.
Now that you’re aware of what causes presbyopia, the staff at Eye Center of Texas is here to help you with any questions and presbyopia treatment options you may need. We have years of experience treating eye diseases and vision issues with only the safest, most advanced cataract surgical techniques and technology.
Give us a call at 713-797-1010 or request an appointment online at any of our convenient locations today.
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