Tired Eyesight or Presbyopia: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

 

Have you had trouble reading lately? Do the prices of products look like little ants? Do the letters on your mobile look blurry? Do you have to increase the font size of your computer? And perhaps the most important question: are you over forty years old?

If the answers to more than one of these questions are yes, especially the last one, you probably suffer from presbyopia, also known as tired eyesight or Aging vision. This is not a disease, more like an age condition that everyone will suffer from sooner or later.

What to do if you have tired eyesight? We tell you why presbyopia appears, what the symptoms are, and its possible treatments.

What is Eyestrain or Presbyopia? What are the Causes?

Presbyopia is a condition associated with eye care in which the eye gradually loses its ability to focus quickly on nearby objects. It is a disorder that affects everyone to a greater or lesser extent as a consequence of the natural aging process.

When we are young, the lens of the eye is flexible and relatively elastic. It changes its length or shape with the help of a ring of small muscles that surround it. In other words, these muscles easily remodel and adjust the lens to accommodate near and distant images.

With age, the lens and the muscle fibers surrounding it lose flexibility and slowly stiffen. As a result, the lens becomes unable to change shape and contract to focus close images; that is, the eye gradually loses its ability to focus light directly on the retina.

What are the symptoms?

For most individuals, the most common symptoms of presbyopia occur around age 40. These symptoms of an aging eye usually involve a gradual deterioration in the ability to read or perform close work.

Common symptoms of presbyopia are:

Eyestrain or headaches after reading or close work.

Difficulty reading small print.

Fatigue from doing close work.

Need for brighter lighting when reading or working up close.

Need to hold reading material at arm's length to focus properly on it.

Problems seeing and concentrating on close objects.

Strabismus or cross-eyedness.

On the other hand, we have hyperopia, a condition with symptoms similar to presbyopia. Although they are two different disorders, distant objects are clear, but close ones are perceived as blurry. A visit to the optometrist who is concerned with your eye care will be able to properly diagnose which of the two diseases you suffer from.

What Are the Causes and Risk Factors?

The most important risk factor for presbyopia is age. Most of the people lose focus on nearby objects around the age of 40. It is something that affects us all, although some people notice it more than others.

It also happens that certain diseases that could not be, at first, eye care related, like anemia or diabetes, among others, or some medications, for example, anxiolytics or antihistamines, or even alcohol consumption, can cause presbyopia in people under 40. When the symptoms appear earlier than usual, it is called premature presbyopia, and if such symptoms are noticed, it could be a sign of an underlying medical condition.

Other risk factors for premature presbyopia are:

Having intraocular surgery or surgery on the inside of the eye.

Eating an unhealthy diet.

Suffering from rapid decompression sickness, which usually occurs in divers who surface too quickly.

How do you know if you suffer from eyestrain?

We recommend that you make an eye test appointment; it is best to contact your optometrist if you present any of the symptoms of presbyopia. Even if you do not experience them, it is advisable to undergo a test sight before the age of 40.

It is recommended that adults who do not present symptoms or risk factors associated with eye diseases undergo at least an initial examination at age 40 since it will identify the first signs of disease and changes in vision that can sometimes begin without symptoms around this age.

Presbyopia can be easily diagnosed as part of a comprehensive eye exam, which will include tests to evaluate the eyes for vision diseases and disorders.

Does it have a solution? Possible treatments for presbyopia

We are sorry to tell you that there is no cure for presbyopia. However, several treatments are available to correct the aging eye. Depending on the degree of the condition and lifestyle, you can choose between corrective lenses, contact lenses, or surgery.

Presbyopia can be corrected by an optical prescription specifically designed for close work. This can be provided in many forms, including reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, and progressive lenses (multifocal).

And of course, proper eye care could prevent, or at least delay the presbyopia. Eating well, using sunglasses, keeping a proper distance from screens, sleeping well and doing periodic eye test appointments to check the state of your eyes.

In Conclusion

One must be aware that the eyes will continue to gradually lose the ability to focus on close objects as we age since the gradual decrease in the elasticity required to focus the lens on close objects continues until approximately age 65, which is when most of the elasticity disappears. 

For this reason, and although the perception of close objects is corrected, You should make appointments with your optometrist and follow their advice to keep the prescription of your glasses updated.