Why Reading Menus Gets Harder After 40
Written By: Dr. Tiffany Nguyen
Have you recently found yourself holding your phone farther away to read a text? Maybe you’ve found a way to enlarge your phone settings to make the font larger? You are not alone! What you are experiencing is called presbyopia – or the gradual loss of your eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects. Presbyopia is a normal, age-related change that affects everyone, typically starting in the early to mid 40s. There are many ways to manage this change, which our eyecare providers can help navigate.
What is Presbyopia?
Let’s first talk about why the change is happening. Unlike nearsightedness (myopia) or farsightedness (hyperopia), which are caused by the shape of the eye, presbyopia is related to the stiffening of the eyes’ lens. When you look at something to read up close, your eye muscles (called the ciliary muscles) flex, allowing the lens to change shape for you to see clearly. As we age, the lens gradually becomes less flexible, it doesn’t change shape as easily and focusing on near objects is much more difficult.
However, blurry vision is not the only symptom. If you find yourself having eye strain or headaches after long periods of near tasks (reading or at the computer) or even needing brighter light to see more easily up close, you may be experiencing presbyopia.
How is Presbyopia Treated?
At Signature Eye Care, we have a variety of different treatment options to get your seeing better.
- Reading / Computer Glasses: Single vision reading glasses can help you see more clearly during long periods of near work and may prevent end of the day eye strain.
- Bifocals or Progressive Glasses: Bifocals allow for the convenience of having correction on at all times.
- Contact Lenses: Multifocal vs. monovision contact lenses allow for vision correction without having to be heavily dependent on readers. Ask your eyecare providers if multifocal or monovision contact lenses may work for you!
- Prescription Eye Drops: Prescription eye drops for presbyopia typically work very well for those who do not need glasses to see far away distances but are newly symptomatic of near blurry vision. It works by changing your pupil size! Ask your doctor if this option is right for you.
- Surgery: An elective surgical procedure called a Refractive Lens Exchange with a multifocal implant can help reduce the reliability of glasses or contacts!
Questions? Ask how we can help determine what’s best for your lifestyle and visual needs!
