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.
This makes it much more difficult to focus on close objects. Unlike a true eye disease, this condition is so common that it eventually happens to almost everyone in their forties.
During our youth, the lens of our eye and the muscles that control it are flexible and soft, allowing us to focus on near objects and change focus from near to distant objects without difficulty.
However, as the eye ages, both the lens and the muscle fibers begin to harden, making near vision more of a challenge.
Presbyopia is a natural result of the aging process and not much can be done to prevent it. Its onset has nothing to do with whether the patient already has another visual disability such as myopia, farshigtednessor astigmatism.
All patients will notice some degree of loss of near vision focusing power as they age, although for some it will be more significant than for others.
The most common form of treatment for presbyopia is the use of reading glasses, bifocals, or progressive glasses. Bifocal and multifocal glasses are also available in contact lenses for those who prefer not to wear glasses.
However, a third option is a series of surgical procedures that allow patients the freedom to correct their near vision without the use of glasses or contact lenses.
Surgical procedures are available for the treatment of presbyopia, including monovision LASIK eye surgery, conductive keratoplasty (CK), corneal inlays or onlays, or a refractive lens exchange that replaces the hardened lens in the eye with a lens. intraocular similar to cataract surgery.
In refractive lens exchange, the eye's hardened lens is replaced with an artificial lens called an intraocular lens to provide multifocal vision. This surgery is similar to and is often done in conjunction with cataract surgery.
El Dr. Humberto Carreras, medical director of Vithas Eurocanarias Ophthalmological Institute, explains in this video if can operate presbyopia with intraocular lenses.
