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Dr. Lance McNaughton &
Dr. Richard Solomon and Associates

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Dr. Lance McNaughton &
Dr. Richard Solomon and Associates

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7101 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20817

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Home » What's New » Middle Age and Presbyopia

Middle Age and Presbyopia

Often, around age 40, people find that they're beginning to have a hard time reading. Here's why: Because as you age, the lens of your eye is likely to become less flexible, decreasing your ability to focus on handheld objects. This is called presbyopia. It's something that affects all of us.

Often, to prevent having to strain their eyes, people with untreated presbyopia may hold reading material at arm's length in order to focus properly. Performing other tasks at close range, such as needlepoint or writing, can also result in headaches, eyestrain or fatigue in individuals who have developed presbyopia. In order to treat presbyopia, it's good to know that there are a number of alternatives available, which take your eyewear preferences into account.

Reading glasses are generally most efficient for those who wear contacts or for people who don't need glasses for correcting distance vision. These are readily available, but you shouldn't get them until you've seen the results of a comprehensive eye examination. Unfortunately, these sorts of reading glasses may help for brief blocks of reading time but they can cause fatigue when people wear them for a long time. Custom made readers are often a superior solution. These can address additional eye issues such as correct astigmatism, accommodate prescriptions that are different between the two eyes, and furthermore, the optic centers of every lens are customized to suit the wearer. The reading distance can be adjusted to meet the individual's needs.

If you don't want to switch between different pairs of glasses, think about bifocal or multi-focal corrective lenses, or PALs (progressive addition lenses), which a lot of people find very beneficial. Essentially, these are eyeglasses that have more than one point of focus, and the lower part of the lens contains a prescription to give you the ability to focus on things right in front of you. If you already wear contacts, it's recommended to talk to your eye care professional to discuss multifocal contact lenses, or a treatment technique known as monovision. Monovision is when one eye wears a lens for distance vision and one eye wears a lens for close vision.

Due to the fact that your vision changes as you grow older, it's fair to expect your prescription to increase periodically. Presbyopia is seen in people even after refractive surgery, so it is it's worthwhile to take the time to find out about all the options before making decisions about your vision care.

Have to chat with your optometrist for a helpful perspective. We can give you the tools to help you deal with presbyopia and your changing vision in a way that's both beneficial and accessible.