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Archive for the ‘Presbyopia’ Category

Presbyopia

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Having 20/20 vision is nice. It’s the way your vision should be. Millions of people need corrective lenses to see 20/20 because of myopia. However, these individuals, as well as those who have natural 20/20 vision may find when they hit their early 40s that things that were once so crystal clear up close have begun to get fuzzy. This blurred vision may be more than a passing thing, it may be presbyopia.

Presbyopia is part of aging, and unavoidable for nearly everyone after they’ve reached 40. It’s the reason your grandparents all wear reading glasses, and it’s the reason your parents hold their books and magazines as far away from them as they can. Presbyopia is, for all intents and purposes, age-related farsightedness.

Why people develop presbyopia is not fully understood, and there are a couple theories. One is that the lens begins to become hard due to proteins. This makes the lens less flexible to focal changes. Another theory is that the ciliary muscle begins to weaken. This makes it harder for the lens curvature to steepen to see things near. A third, and newest, theory is that the lens continues to grow, and by age 40 it has grown so much that the ciliary muscle does not have enough space to contract and steepen the lens. However, this last theory is not held by many eye doctors right now.

Whatever causes presbyopia can only be fixed by the old standbys: corrective lenses, LASIK, and conductive keratoplasty (CK).

If you are 40 or older and have noticed your near vision beginning to blur, find an experienced eye doctor in your area to test you for presbyopia today.

Posted in Contact Lenses, LASIK, Laser Vision Correction, Presbyopia, Visual Acuity | Comments Off

Treatment Options for Presbyopia

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is the technical name for the vision impairment that comes with age. In young eyes, the lens is flexible, able to change its shape to focus light and help you see things that are both far and near. As the eye ages, however, the lens becomes stiffer, and it is unable to bend enough to focus on close objects.

If you are over 40, you have probably noticed that words on a page have become harder to read. They seem out of focus and blurry. These effects of presbyopia are simply part of the natural aging process, and while they cannot be prevented, they can be treated.

Treatment Options

Getting prescription glasses or contacts is a simple fix for presbyopia. However, if you find glasses or contacts frustrating and inconvenient, surgical treatments are also available.

Presbyopia Laser Vision Correction, also known as LASIK monovision, corrects vision so that one eye focuses on far objects and the other focuses on near objects. Though each eye focuses differently, the brain is able to coordinate the two images so you can clearly see the book on your desk and the mountains out the window beyond you.

Presbyopia lens replacement surgery is another option. In this treatment, your eye’s natural lens is replaced with an artificial one called an intraocular lens (IOL). This lens will be able to flex where your old lens could not and will correct your near vision.

Recently, doctors are experimenting with a third surgical option called presbyopic LASIK or presbyLASIK. In contrast to LASIK monovision, this treatment enables you to have binocular vision, where both eyes can focus both near and far.

Currently, presbyLASIK is not FDA approved to treat presbyopia, but it there is evidence that it could be a viable treatment option. According to one study, 81% of the 178 participants who received presbyLASIK ended up with 20/20 or better binocular vision. However, some of the patients who were in their mid to late 40s lost their near vision again in a few years as they aged. While not the current standard of care, presbyLASIK may become another successful treatment for presbyopia as technology develops and scientists gather more information.

If you suffer from presbyopia and are wondering about treatment options, please contact an experienced ophthalmologist in your area today who can answer your questions during your free consultation.

Posted in Eye Surgery, Intraocular lenses (IOLs), LASIK, Presbyopia | Comments Off

How Long Does LASIK Last?

Friday, April 15th, 2011

If you are considering LASIK eye surgery, you may have heard conflicting information about how long the results of the surgery last. Is it permanent, or temporary? To understand the answer, you need to have a proper understanding of how LASIK works.

During LASIK, your cornea – the clear membrane that covers the front of your eye – is reshaped to address and correct your specific eye condition. This is permanent; your cornea will not lose its new shape after surgery, no matter how much time has passed.

However, as we get older and begin to reach middle-age, our vision starts naturally deteriorating. LASIK cannot avoid this future problem; it can simply address your specific eye disorder now. Along with our bodies, our vision will change as we grow older. This is unavoidable.

A common eye disorder that comes with age is presbyopia, where a person’s near vision starts to become increasingly blurry, often making reading glasses necessary for many patients. This is not an issue with the cornea, which has been corrected by LASIK, but rather with the eye’s lens. At the time of your LASIK screening, your ophthalmologist can explain this to you in more detail.

If you have further questions about LASIK surgery, please contact an experienced ophthalmologist near you to schedule a consultation.

Posted in Diseases and Conditions, Eye Surgery, LASIK, Laser Vision Correction, Presbyopia, Refractive Errors, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Software Helps Aging Eyes Operate Cell Phones

Friday, February 18th, 2011

For many people with aging eyes, operating a cell phone can be difficult. The small screens that many people have on their phones can be very hard to read for people with presbyopia or following cataract surgery. Now, a new software package helps people with aging vision to operate their cell phones without fumbling for glasses or asking for help from people around them.

The software is called C-CallerID, and it works by identifying common callers with a large, easily-readable abbreviation of one or two letters or a visual icon that can be selected from the company’s database. It was developed by a man as an app for his wife who had trouble using her phone after cataract surgery. The product was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and is available for use on many mobile phones, including Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Samsung, and LG. Although it is currently available in Britain, its availability for people in the United States is not known.

C-CallerID is an ideal solution for people who have smaller phones that are primarily used for phone calls and text messages and do not want to upgrade to larger-screened smartphones.

Although age definitely leads to a number of visual changes, it doesn’t have to lead to a reduction in your quality of life. To learn more about how you can enjoy life to the fullest despite changes in your vision, please contact a local ophthalmologist.

Posted in Cataracts, Presbyopia | Comments Off

Night Driving Difficulty with Multifocal Lenses

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

A study recently reported that those who wear multifocal contact lenses have more trouble with night time driving than those who wear glasses. This is a problem because more and more people are turning to multifocal lenses as they age, rather than wear glasses, for their appearance.

The study was admittedly a small one (11 volunteers), but looked at those who had presbyopia and are between ages 45 and 64. They drove around a closed circuit driving track at night while wearing multifocal contact lenses.

While wearing the lenses, their driving speeds were slower and were less able to recognize road hazards, even while wearing lenses. They reportedly also had to be closer to road signs to read what they said. This decreased the amount of time they had to react to the signs.

One solution the authors of the study said might work was to prescribe one multifocal lens correction for daytime use and another correction for nighttime use.

Presbyopia is an age-related loss of vision that affects nearly everyone after the age of 40. It may require reading glasses even if you’ve had 20/20 vision your entire life. There are many theories about what may cause it, including the lens becoming harder or stiffer with age.

For more information about presbyopia, contact eyes.com to find an experienced eye doctor in your area.

Posted in Presbyopia | Comments Off