As we reach middle age, particularly after age 40, it's common to begin to experience difficulty reading and performing other tasks that require close vision. This is because, with age, the lens of our eye becomes more and more inflexible, making it difficult to focus on close objects. This condition is called presbyopia and it eventually happens to everyone after the age of forty.
To avoid eyestrain, people with untreated presbyopia tend to hold cell phones, books, magazines, newspapers, and menus at arm's length in order to focus properly. Trying to perform tasks at close range can sometimes cause headaches and eyestrain in people who have developed this condition.
There are a number of options available for treating presbyopia including corrective glasses, contact lenses or various types of surgery.
Corrective glasses:
Reading glasses are basically magnifying lenses used when reading or doing close work that allow the patient to focus on nearby objects.
Glasses with bifocal or multifocal lenses, such as progressive addition lenses or PALs, are a common solution for people with presbyopia who also have a refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism).
Bifocals have lenses with two lens prescriptions; one area (usually the top) for distance vision and the second area for near vision. Progressive Addition or PAL lenses provide lens power for both near and distance vision, but instead of being divided into two hemispheres, they are made with a gradual transition of lens power to see at different distances. Many people prefer PALs because, unlike bifocals, they do not have a visible dividing line on the lens.
Bifocal and multifocal lenses:
For people who prefer lenses to glasses, bifocal and multifocal lenses are also available in soft and rigid gas permeable (RGP) varieties.
Multifocal lenses provide more freedom than glasses and allow you to see in any direction (up, down and sideways) with similar vision.
Another option for those who prefer contact lenses is monovision. Monovision splits distance and near vision between the eyes, using the dominant eye for distance vision and the non-dominant eye for near vision.
Single vision lenses are usually worn in each eye; however, sometimes the dominant eye wears a single vision lens while a multifocal lens is worn on the other eye for intermediate and near vision. This is called modified monovision.
Presbyopia surgeries in Canary Islands
There are also surgical procedures available for the treatment of presbyopia:
Refractive Lens Exchange:
The eye's clear natural lens is replaced with an artificial intraocular lens. It is designed to correct refractive problems for sharper focus and clearer vision at all distances, thus reducing or eliminating the need for glasses and contact lenses. This surgery prevents and avoids subsequent cataract surgery.
Implantable lens:
Unlike normal contact lenses that are placed on the surface of the eye (on the cornea), the implantable lens is placed between the iris (the colored part of the eye) and the eye's natural lens. Implantation is a painless outpatient procedure and takes only about 15 minutes per eye.
After surgical implantation, the lens will be solidly anchored in the eye and protected, it does not need cleaning or replacement. It is not felt or seen and may remain in the eye permanently. It is an excellent option for patients between 40 and 50 years of age who do not present symptoms of cataracts, but want to do without the use of glasses and contact lenses.
El Dr. Humberto Carreras, medical director of Vithas Eurocanarias Ophthalmological Institute, explains in this video the surgical techniques to correct presbyopia or tired eyesight.