Presbyopia Corrective Treatment Options You Can Benefit From

With age our vision deteriorates leading to several age-related conditions. One of them is Presbyopia. Nearly 26% of the world’s population suffers from presbyopia. In India, the number of people with presbyopia also referred to as near vision loss has almost doubled in the last decade, from 57.7 million in 1990 to 137.6 million in 2020.

Also, according to an Indian Journal of Ophthalmology study, the prevalence of uncorrected presbyopia among Indian adults is 33%. With so many prevalent cases in the country, it’s important to learn about presbyopia in detail so that no one loses their vision.

In this blog, we will help you understand what presbyopia is, its symptoms, its causes, and the several corrective treatments that are available for people with presbyopia.

What Is Presbyopia?

With advancing age, our near vision is impacted. This is due to the loss of elasticity of the lens in front of the eye which results in its inability to focus light on the retina, needed for a clear vision of near objects. As we grow older, the lens hardens and the muscles around the lens degenerate thus reducing their flexibility. When the muscles are not able to contract like before, the eye is unable to bring near objects into sharp focus. This makes our near vision blurry and unclear.

Presbyopia usually starts after forty but in some instances, it can occur among younger people too. This is called premature presbyopia and is seen in people suffering from diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases.

Symptoms of Presbyopia

The symptoms of presbyopia start once you reach the fourth decade of your life and most of them are related to the gradual deterioration in your near vision.

Some of its common symptoms are:

• Problem in focusing and seeing up close objects
• Difficulty in reading the fine print
• Need to hold the reading material at arm’s length for better visibility
• Require brighter light while reading or doing some work at a close distance
• Experience tiredness after doing work that needs concentration or focus
• Tendency to squint
• Headache after reading or doing work up close for a long period

Causes of Presbyopia

When the light enters the eye, it passes through the cornea and the pupil before passing through the lens. The lens changes shape and bends the rays to focus on the retina which is located at the back of the eye. This is made possible by the muscles surrounding the lens that move to adjust the lens enabling it to focus clearly on both near and distant objects. 

However, with age, the lens’s ability to change its shape and bend the light to sharply focus on the retina reduces leading to a loss in near vision.

Treatment for Presbyopia

While there is no cure for presbyopia, there are several presbyopia correction treatment options available that help in correcting your vision and allows you to view close objects clearly. Depending on the condition of your eyes and also your lifestyle requirements, you can select from corrective eyeglasses, contact lenses, refractive surgery, or lens implants for improved near vision.

Eyeglasses

• Reading glasses: If you have no prior eye-related issues, a reading glass can be the best option for you.
• Bifocals: In these glasses, the near and far focus areas are separated by a noticeable line. While the upper part is set for distant objects, the lower part is set for reading and seeing nearer objects.
• Progressive lens: They are similar to the bifocal lens but without the visible line and offer a gradual transition between distant and near vision.
• Trifocals: These glasses have three separate focus areas for near, mid-range, and distant vision. They are available both with or without lines.

Contact lenses

• Bifocal contact lenses: Both distance and close-up correction are provided in each contact lens. In some lenses, the reading lens is on the lower side and the lens for distance focus is on the upper portion. In newer lenses, while one focal type offers vision along the edges, the other is placed through the centre of the lens.
• Monovision contact lenses: These type of contact lenses offers distance vision in one eye and near vision in the other.
• Modified monovision contact lenses: For this, one lens is either bifocal or multifocal and the other, mostly the dominant eye, is set for distance vision. While reading or working up close can be done with the bi or multifocal lens, seeing distant objects can be done with both eyes.

Refractive surgery

• Conductive keratoplasty: Radiofrequency energy is used to heat the edges of the cornea causing them to shrink. This increases the cornea’s steepness leading to the greater focusing power of the lens
• Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK): The cornea’s inner layers are removed to give it a steeper shape for better focus 
• Laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK): Laser rays reshape the outer layers of the cornea located under the epithelium to increase its ability to focus
• Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK): This surgery is similar to LASEK but in this procedure, the epithelium is surgically removed. The new epithelium moulds itself to the re-shaped cornea. 

See Also: What is LASIK Surgery and Who Should Have it?

Lens implants

In this treatment procedure, the lenses in both eyes are surgically removed and replaced with synthetic lenses called intraocular lenses. Some lenses may help you to see both near and far objects and some, like accommodative lenses, change their position or shape for clearer vision. However, these lenses may affect your near vision and you may need reading glasses even after the implant.

Corneal inlays

These are tiny lenses shaped like a ring with a central opening that is surgically placed in the cornea as a corrective measure for presbyopia. The opening in the middle allows in focussed light enabling near vision.

To learn more about the treatment options for presbyopia, fix an appointment with the nearest super specialty eye care centre.

Conclusion

As we grow older, the efficiency and ability of our bodily functions are affected including our eyesight. Presbyopia is one such condition that occurs due to aging-related deterioration in the eye lens. However, with innovations and advancements in the medical field, there are multiple options available to us today that allow us to enjoy unimpaired vision for a long time.

Consult Netralayam Super specialty Eye Care Centre to Get the Best Presbyopia Treatment

If you are looking for the best eye hospital offering the most advanced eye treatments for presbyopia, contact our team at Netralayam, the best eye care hospital in Kolkata, for the best results. Our expert and experienced doctors are committed to providing the highest standards of eye care service for all your eye-related ailments with compassion and care.

Frequently Asked Questions On Presbyopia