What is presbyopia?

Presbyopia is the gradual worsening of the ability to see objects that are nearby. People will usually start to notice this decline in vision around the mid 40’s and may continue to worsen up until you reach your mid 60’s. Presbyopia can be very annoying for patients, however is unfortunately a part of ageing.

One of the most common tell-tale signs of presbyopia is having to hold a book at arm’s length when trying to read it. Here are some of the other symptoms that you may experience:

• Blurred vision when reading from a ‘normal’ position
• Headache or eye strains that are brought on by doing job up close or reading small text
• Worsened visions when in a dark room or tired

If you have noticed that you are doing this or have any of the above symptoms it is a good idea to go and see your optician. They will be able to diagnose this easily and give you either glasses or contact lenses to correct the vision – some patients may also consider having more long-term treatments such as refractive lens implants.

If you experience symptoms such as:

• Sudden loss of vision in one eye (with or without pain)
• Sudden blurred or ‘frosted’ vision
• Double vision
• Dark patches or flashes of light in your vision

It is important that you see your optician or ophthalmologist straight away as this may be caused by something more severe and a regular eye health check is a good way to identify problems early.

As mentioned before, presbyopia occurs as we age. When we age our lens hardens and becomes less flexible. This means that it cannot change shape to focus on things that are nearby and therefore makes close object or writing look blurred.

If you would like to speak to our team about treatment for presbyopia please contact us on 020 7000 3193

This article is intended to inform and give insight but not treat, diagnose or replace the advice of a doctor. Always seek medical advice with any questions regarding a medical condition.