Signs of aging come with no warning such as when you get a new grey hair, or an unfamiliar fine line in the corner of your eye appears, or you squint whenever you read a morning newspaper. Presbyopia is a common eye condition that refers to farsightedness that is caused by aging. The eye condition happens to everyone at some point in their lives.
Some people are not a fan of wearing reading glasses or bifocals because they look old with them. As we get old, the crystalline lens in our eye which bends the light to hit the retina loses elasticity. Your eyes cannot focus well as they did before due to presbyopia. The condition usually occurs around age 40 and worsens over time.
These are the signs of presbyopia according to the American Optometric Association (AOA):
- Reading material at an arm’s length
- Blurry vision in a normal reading distance
- Fatigue in the eye
- Headaches occur when doing something close
You may notice that you have presbyopia when you are holding reading materials farther away so you can read and see them very clearly.
What Are the Alternatives to Bifocals/ Reading Glasses?
If you are in your forties, you may think that you are going to live your life with reading glasses because of presbyopia. There is no cure for presbyopia but there are other options for you if you do not want reading glasses which includes surgical and contact lens options.
For surgical options, you may have LASIK or CK (Conductive Keratoplasty) which can give you a monovision solution for presbyopes. It enables your one eye to focus on distant objects and the other one to focus on close objects.
For contact lens options, there are different types of contacts for presbyopia which are “monovision,” “bifocal” and “multifocal.” The most common are multifocal because they can mimic your ability to view things naturally. You may want to try Proclear 1 day multifocal and Proclear 1 day sphere if you want a clear vision up close, middle, and far away.
What if I Have Other Eye Conditions Than Presbyopia?
People can have more “-opia’s” such as myopia, hyperopia, and presbyopia. Having multiple conditions is common. You can have hyperopia and have astigmatism at the same time. You do not have to worry about having a complex prescription because there is more variety now. There are available multifocal contact lenses to correct presbyopia.
