Presbyopia – What is it? Where did it come from?
“I used to see 20/20, what happened?”
Presbyopia is an age related condition of the eye most commonly caused by smoke.
That’s right, smoke. Smoke from birthday cake candles that is…
Seriously, presbyopia is an age related condition that leads to a diminished ability to focus up close. It is a natural progressive feature of all eyes. You will start to notice the symptoms of presbyopia around the age of 40. The first thing to do when you notice yourself struggling to read fine print, is to laugh. Congratulations! You made it!
So what causes this sudden change in vision?
Would you be surprised to hear that it is not sudden at all? The condition progresses throughout our entire lives, it just is not noticeable until the early to mid 40’s. As a child, the lens inside your eye that does the focusing is extremely elastic. Take a look at a normal sighted child reading a book or playing with their toys. Notice how close they can hold an object and still see it? That is because there accommodative power is incredibly strong. Another way to look at is the lens inside their eye is very flexible
Next, take a look at a twenty something with normal vision reading or working on the computer. Notice they can get close, but not nearly as close as a child. What has happened? That lens inside the eye has lost some of its elasticity. The lens is still flexible enough, so 20 and 30 year olds think nothing of it.
Welcome to your 40’s. At this point to lens has lost a little more elasticity. Notice you are pulling your arm back a little further to see your reading material? That is simply because your lens is no longer capable of focusing up close as easily as it used to. It still works, only it is not as flexible. Again, it’s a normal process of the human eye.
So you see, even if your eyes and sight were perfect leading up to your 40’s, presbyopia still has a way of affecting your near vision. The good news is that it will only affect your near vision. Remember, you still want to see your eye care provider to ensure that everything else inside your eyes are functioning properly. If nothing else, presbyopia is the ultimate reminder card to get your eyes checked.