You Have Presbyopia

If you find it more difficult to read books and newspapers because the letters appear soft and you have to hold a magazine at arm’s length so you can actually read your favorite feature story, chances are your reading troubles are caused by changes in your vision, or a condition that's commonly known as presbyopia.

Presbyopia doesn't kill
Presbyopia is not life threatening. It indicates simply the eyes have lost their focusing ability. A victim of presbyopia has trouble seeing up close.

The Cause of Presbyopia
The eye’s lens can focus on objects at different distances. That's because the muscle around the lens change shapes, constricting and relaxing, to adjust the eye’s focusing power. The muscle is quite flexible. But as an individual ages, the muscle’s flexibility becomes reduced as is the ability to focus.

Presbyopia treatments
Optometrists and ophthalmologists can diagnose presbyopia. Since aging is inevitable, the best way to manage presbyopia is to wear reading glasses.

A prescription isn't required to buy reading glasses, but it's always wise to visit your eye doctor every year in case something more serious is going on.

Other ways to treat presbyopia include refractive surgery and lens implants. Refractive surgery, or LASIK, reshapes the cornea of the eye. But the patient may still wind up needing reading glasses.

A synthetic lens implant is another solution, replacing the eye’s natural lens. That procedure, though, involves serious risks: inflammation, infection, glaucoma, and bleeding.

For safety and effectiveness, the management strategy of choice for presbyopia is reading glasses. They can be extremely fashionable and make the wearer look younger!