What Is Presbyopia?

Mr Glenn Carp – “Presbyopia is a condition whereby the muscles in the eye have weakened over the years.  We are all born with very strong muscle strength and as we get older this ability to change the focus of the lens inside the eye that would change ones focusing from distance to near deteriorates.  When we reach the age of around 42 to 45, we are down to the last bit of muscle power and it is that where we find that the curvature of the lens is not able to change as much because the muscle power is weakened and hence we find we are having to hold things further out because we cannot improve the curvature to bring things closer.  Eventually, we get to a point we cannot hold things far enough and that is where wearing a pair of reading glasses now to change the focal point will bring the focal point much closer, restoring the vision.”

Presbyopia Explained Further…

The condition is part of the aging process and presbyopia means, literally, ‘old eye’. With presbyopia, the ability to focus on close objects gradually decreases over a number of years, with presbyopic symptoms usually becomes noticeable around middle age.

With presbyopia, the lens steadily becomes less flexible, and the muscles that pull it into focus become less powerful. As presbyopia develops our ability to adjust to vision at various distances decreases, and most noticeably, the condition causes near objects to appear blurry and difficult focus. Indeed, often unconsciously adjust the distance between page and eye to compensate for their condition.