Presbyopia is a disorder that makes close viewing difficult.
Presbyopia is a medical disorder that occurs when the luminosity of bodies located at a certain distance from the eye focuses on a region behind the retina. What causes presbyopia is an inconvenience when viewing up close , since it is difficult to focus on nearby things.
This defect usually develops after 40 years of age . It is linked to a decrease in the eyes' accommodation capacity , necessary to clearly see objects located nearby. Accommodation develops through an alteration of the shape of the lens, driven by the ciliary muscle. When this capacity begins to be reduced, optical power decreases and presbyopia arises.
Difficulties generated by presbyopia
As presbyopia progresses, the person may have great problems reading a book, a magazine, the newspaper or any text placed near their eyes. The letters appear blurry, since the vision does not focus correctly.
The situation changes if the subject moves the text a little further or visualizes distant objects, since there it regains sharpness, although it is difficult to distinguish the letters due to the distance.
Glasses allow you to regain the ability to see up close.
Treatments
There are different treatments for presbyopia. Some of them are detailed below:
- Glasses : thanks to the use of convex lenses graduated between 1 and 3 diopters, presbyopic patients are usually able to read easily again from 33 centimeters away. It is recommended in all cases to visit the optometrist or ophthalmologist before purchasing glasses so that he can assess the visual capacity, since when there is a problem prior to this disorder, such as myopia (which affects distance vision), You need to wear two different glasses , depending on whether you need to read from a distance or up close, or special bifocal or progressive multifocal lenses are also usually prescribed.
- Bi or multifocal contact lenses : contact lenses have the advantage of offering a solution to near and distance vision problems at the same time.
- Monovision : It is a procedure that consists of correcting one eye so that it is capable of near vision and the other for distance vision. It is worth mentioning that it can affect correct depth perception and that in any case requires a period of adaptation.
- Intraocular lens : this is a surgery that consists of removing the lens (a component of the eye that is located between the iris and the vitreous humor) and replacing it with a multifocal type intraocular lens. It is widely used in patients who also undergo cataract surgery and do not want to wear glasses for near vision after the intervention. As with any operation, certain complications are possible; To cite two common examples, there may be difficulty seeing at night and flashes of light may be perceived. Since presbyopia is caused by the thickening and hardening of the lens, its replacement represents a definitive solution for the disorder .
- Corneal surgery : this option involves a different laser operation for each eye, so that one adapts to distance vision and the other to near vision, which is described in a previous paragraph as monovision. . Likewise, the cornea can be worked on with a laser to act as a multifocal or bifocal lens, although this is more complicated and limited than the application of intraocular lenses.
- IsoVision : It is a treatment created in 2008 that consists of subjecting the patient to two sessions of laser surgery, one to treat near vision and another for distance vision. It is an effective and long-lasting option.