Presbyopia: "Old Eye"

Presbyopia is a condition when the eye loses its ability to change focus to see close objects. This condition is very common in older adults because as we age, the eye's lens tend to become less elastic over time. In a normal eye, people can focus well and would no difficultly reading out of a book. For people that have Presbyopia, their distance of near point increases. This is due to the lens becoming harden which causes the cillary muscles in the eye to become weak.

Presbyopia is also known as "old eye" and it occurs in everyone. Usually the first sign of Presbyopia is when a person needs to hold reading material i.e. book further away to read it clearly, as if a person with normal vision read it close. The only way to treat Presbyopia is either wearing corrective lens or having LASIK eye surgery. My father's aunt has Presbyopia. I remember when I was younger; I recall her having a difficult time trying to read a newspaper. She would hold her newspaper further back and this would cause her to have headaches and stiff necks. She is a very stubborn person and refused to wear reading glasses for the longest time. It was not until recently that she had purchased reading glasses and she is turning sixty this December.

Andrea Buelo