Presbyopia

What is presbyopia?

Presbyopia (pronounced prez-bee-OH-pee-uh) is a natural and unavoidable change in the vision that gradually occurs and limits the ability to focus on near objects. Some people start noticing symptoms around age 40, while other may not notice presbyopia until later.

What are the symptoms of presbyopia?

• Needing brighter light to see detail up close
  
  
• Eye fatigue toward the end of the day
  
  
• Eyestrain or blur with prolonged close-up work
  
  
• Holding printed material further away to see it better
  
  
• Difficulty performing certain tasks, such as reading fine print, threading a needle or removing a splinter

How can presbyopia be corrected?

Because the symptoms gradually occur, vision correction for presbyopia depends on your personal needs and comfort. If you are noticing symptoms for the majority of your day, then it’s time to correct your vision. There are a number of ways to achieve clear and comfortable vision. In fact, recent technology has led to the development of advanced forms of presbyopic vision correction, including progressive addition lenses (PAL) for glasses as well as bifocal contact lenses.

Is monovision right for me?

Another method of correction that works well for many individual is known as monvision. Most people use contact lenses to achieve monovision, however, monovision is also possible with the LASIK procedure. With monovision correction, one eye is corrected for distance vision and the other eye is left slightly undercorrected to preserve one's reading or close vision. Since it is your brain rather than your eyes that interprets what you see, your brain is able to selectively focus on the clear image while the blurry image is suppressed. Because both eyes are in constant use, monovision will not cause any harm to your eyes.

In a small percentage of people, a monovision correction may not be accepted by the brain's visual interpretation system. Your eye doctor will work with you to find the best correction to suit your reading and your distance vision needs.