Presbyopia is characterized by a change in vision that is associated with aging of the eye, with increasing age, a progressive difficulty to focus objects clearly.
Generally, presbyopia begins at around 40 years of age, reaching its maximum intensity at around 65 years of age, with symptoms such as eye strain, difficulty reading small print or blurred vision, for example.
Treatment consists of wearing glasses, contact lenses, performing laser surgery or administering medications.
What symptoms
Symptoms of presbyopia usually appear after 40 years of age due to the difficulty of the eye in focusing on objects closer to the eyes and include:
- Blurred near or normal reading distance; Difficulty reading small print close up; Tendency to hold reading material farther to be able to read; Headaches; Eye tiredness; Burning eyes when trying to read; Feeling of eyelids heavy.
In the presence of these symptoms, an ophthalmologist should be consulted who will make the diagnosis and guide the treatment that can be done with the use of glasses or contact lenses that help the eye to focus the image closely.
Possible causes
Presbyopia is caused by a hardening of the eye lens, which can occur as a person ages. The less flexible the lens of the eye becomes, the more difficult it is to change shape, to focus the images correctly.
How the treatment is done
The treatment of presbyopia consists of correcting the eyes with glasses with lenses that can be simple, bifocal, trifocal or progressive or with contact lenses, which generally varies between +1 and +3 diopters, to improve near vision.
In addition to glasses and contact lenses, presbyopia can be corrected through laser surgery with the placement of monofocal, multifocal or accommodative intraocular lenses. Find out how to recover from laser eye surgery.
Medication treatment, such as a combination of pilocarpine and diclofenac, can also be done.
