Visit your Austin, TX Eye Doctor to Find Out About Treatment Options
Many adults notice signs of presbyopia or an impaired ability to see things that are close, as they get older. With the increasing international population of older adults, more and more individuals develop the condition, which currently cannot be avoided.
Theories about the cause of presbyopia are that the human eye will often harden around the age of 40, making it harder for the eyes to focus in on an object, especially something close by. Sufferers usually deal with the reduced vision by holding a book far away or standing away from the object they are looking at. Shifting from focusing on distant objects to closer ones can often be straining for people with presbyopia. The strain can add to one's discomfort resulting in headaches, eye strain or fatigue.
Most of the time bifocal lenses or progressives (PALs) are worn to correct this problem. A bifocal lens has two prescriptions for vision, one is for distance vision and the other part of the lens is for seeing things that are close by. Progressive addition lenses work similarly to bifocals, but the transitions between the two prescriptions are more gradual and have no clear line between them. Wearers can more easily adjust focus, as they might with normal sight. A third option is reading glasses which are usually worn just when needed as opposed to all day.
If contact lenses are preferred over glasses, there are other alternatives such as multifocal contacts. It may take a couple of attempts to decide upon the optimal method and type of contacts since different prescriptions can affect your comfort or distance vision.
There are also options for other procedures including surgery available that may be worth discussing with your optometrist. A significant number of people find the most success by using a combination of options for presbyopia. Additionally, since presbyopia will likely get worse with age, you will probably need to continually adjust the strength of your prescription. With the population growing older, there is a significant amount of research being done to discover additional effective treatments for presbyopia.
If you are beginning to see symptoms of presbyopia, call for a visit with your Austin, TX eye doctor. Better vision can be yours!
