Maybe you’ve noticed it when you glance at your watch, or when you look at the receipt at the restaurant. What you could normally see in the past now seems like a fuzzy blur, and you find yourself reaching for your “readers” to view anything up-close. Like many mid-aged and older adults, you’re experiencing a part of the eye’s natural aging process, known as presbyopia.
Presbyopia is a condition in which the the eyes’ ability to focus on near objects progressively reduces. The underlying tissue of the eye becomes lax with age, ultimately causing this loss of focusing ability, explains our eye surgeon, Michael Gordon, MD. “Physiologically, we all lose the ability to what we call ‘accommodate,’ as we get older,” he says. “Typically, when we turn right around the age of 40, we start losing enough accommodation where you have to hold things further away to see, and then ultimately you can’t hold it far enough away and still read it because it’s too small. That’s what presbyopia is.”
The good news is the effects of the condition can be easily corrected. The simplest and most immediate option would be to use a pair of reading glasses, though, at Gordon Schanzlin New Vision Institute Institute, we also offer a number of advanced treatment options, including:
- Monovision laser surgery
- Progressive Multi-focal LASIK (PML)
- Lens-based procedures (similar to lens replacement performed in cataract surgery)
Each procedure corrects the effects of presbyopia in a different way, which is something that your ophthalmologist can discuss with you in more detail.
If you think you may be experiencing symptoms of presbyopia, or if you would like to learn more about our presbyopia vision correction procedures, please contact us today.
Stay Tuned
As leaders in state-of-the-art ophthalmology technology and treatment techniques, our surgeons are frequently involved in the latest developments in the field. Currently, a clinical trial measuring the effectiveness of the Presbia Flexivue Microlens™, the newest investigational procedure for presbyopia, is underway. Dr. Gordon, who is involved in this clinical research study, will discuss the investigational treatment in part II of our presbyopia blog series, so be sure to check back!