What Is Presbyopia Or Eyestrain? - Parafina Eyewear

What Is Presbyopia Or Eyestrain?

Presbyopia, also known as eyestrain, is a refractive defect due to the loss of elasticity of the crystalline lens, where the natural lens of our eye, which allows focusing images at different distances, is affected causing a decrease in the focus of objects.

This condition causes a greater difficulty in reading or visualizing close-up images, showing objects with little sharpness. An example to know if we suffer from presbyopia would be to read the labels of any product, where the small letter size forces the eye to focus better.

Why is this produced? To make a simile of the crystalline lens of our eye, it can be compared to a camera lens, where when taking a photo, the objective lens helps us to focus on the object and see it more clearly. Our crystalline lens is responsible for helping us to focus on close objects, having a varied shape that adapts according to the proximity of the object we are looking at. This ailment usually occurs in people between the ages of 40 and 45, and is not very common in young people, as it is caused by ageing itself, provoking the natural degeneration of the eye.

How can it be prevented? Presbyopia cannot be prevented because it is linked to the degenerative process of the eye. Like other parts of our body, it evolves with age. Therefore, from a certain point onwards we all suffer from presbyopia and, in fact, it affects more than 90% of people over the age of 45.

It is therefore important to have your vision checked regularly (annual check-ups), especially from the age of 40 onwards, when the usual symptoms of eyestrain tend to appear. Also, from this age onwards, other eye diseases of maturity begin to develop. Presbyopia manifests itself gradually. You may notice the following signs and symptoms for the first time after the age of 40:

1. A tendency to hold reading material further away to see letters more clearly 2.

2. Blurred vision at a normal reading distance.

3. Eye fatigue or headaches after reading or doing detailed work.

4. Difficulty focusing on objects at close range (less than 1 m).

5. Need to move the book, mobile phone, etc. further away to be able to see better.

6. Sensation that the letters of a text “dance” or are blurred.

7. Headache when looking at the text for long periods of time.

8. Eye fatigue (redness, dry eye, stinging, gritty) sensation, tearing, etc.), especially at the end of the day or in poor lighting conditions.

You may notice that these symptoms are worse if you are tired or in a place with poor lighting.

As presbyopia progresses, it usually becomes more intense and bothersome. In other cases, it becomes an “intermittent” process. After the first symptoms, some patients seem to improve and regain their ability to focus, only to get worse again.

When you feel symptoms of this kind, the best thing to do is to see your ophthalmologist, who will assess your condition with good judgment. Although presbyopia cannot be cured, there are several methods that, as with other refractive defects (farsightedness, nearsightedness, astigmatism), help to alleviate the difficulty of focusing, such as the use of glasses to help correct the lens.

Glasses are the most common option and each patient can use different types of lenses, depending on his or her needs. It is common for people between 40 and 60 years old to need a regular change of prescription due to the evolution of eyestrain. Glasses with progressive lenses are a good alternative for presbyopia or eyestrain, but do you want to know which progressive lens is best and how to avoid adaptation problems? The types of glasses that are recommended are:

– Monofocal: these are only used to improve near vision and are usually worn for occasional precision tasks, such as reading or sewing.

Bifocals: combine distance vision (upper part of the lens) and near vision (lower part).

Occupational: in this case, the upper part of the lens is used for vision at intermediate distances and the lower part for near distances. They are especially indicated for people who spend many hours in front of the computer.

Progressive: they progressively change the prescription to correct both near, intermediate and far vision.

Therefore, as reported by the newspaper El Confidencial in its article “Presbyopia cannot be prevented: goodbye to the myth of not wearing glasses”, referring to the use of glasses for presbyopia, there is still no definitive cure, but the best way to alleviate its effects is to wear glasses. Although at first it was considered to delay the use of glasses in this type of ailment, studies have shown that their use in the early stages of the disease, helps prevent it from developing over time.

Dr. Julio Maset gives a series of keys to detect and treat this vision problem. First of all, be alert to the appearance of any symptoms. That is, difficulties in seeing close images or reading, as well as visual fatigue or headaches after prolonged near vision tasks may be symptoms of presbyopia.

He also recommends adopting good habits when working with the computer, remembering that it is normal to feel eye fatigue, for which he recommends taking visual breaks every twenty minutes, paying attention to aspects such as brightness, screen position and reading distance, enlarging the font size of the screen and maintaining good lubrication of the ocular surface, using artificial tear solutions.

Other tips are to use the appropriate optical correction, visit the ophthalmologist from time to time (especially after 40), and get proper information in case of opting for an operation.

Therefore, if you have symptoms of eyestrain, such as difficulty focusing on objects or product labels when you go shopping, do not discard the use of glasses, since their use will help the lens to maintain its youth (even if you are already a few years old and you can not fight against it) and prevent it from worsening and eventually producing greater ailments such as those associated with it.