Presbyopia

General Information

Everyone experiences a change in the eyes with aging. The result of this change is the loss of the ability of the lens of the eye to adapt for near vision. This loss of accommodation is called presbyopia.

Presbyopic change begins in people in their early forties and usually stabilizes around age 65. You can correct near vision by using magnifying lenses, that is, common reading glasses. Presbyopic change is gradual and slowly progressive over a period as long as several decades, and a change in your reading lenses to a greater strength is needed every few years until the presbyopia stabilizes.

Important Points in Treatment
Presbyopia occurs with the aging of the lens of the eye. Very little can be done short of the use of corrective lenses to remedy this problem.

The appropriate management of presbyopia is the use of magnifying lenses for reading. If you already wear eyeglasses, then bifocals or, as the presbyopia progresses, trifocals can restore near and middle vision. The presbyopic change progresses for a decade or so and then stabilizes.

Notify Our Office If ...

  • You have a recurrent headache while reading. The visual changes that occur with presbyopia are gradual in onset. Headaches secondary to eyestrain may precede more obvious changes, such as blurred vision for near objects.