Presbyopia usually manifests between 45 and 55 years of age. Reading small texts is becoming increasingly difficult, especially at dusk or in poor lighting conditions.
This means that the eyes can no longer focus on the near from afar, this is known as presbyopia.
The so-called accommodative capacity of the natural lens, i.e. the ability of the lens to focus on objects at various distances, decreases with increasing age. This condition is called presbyopia. The exact cause of presbyopia is still unclear; the most common theory blames the decrease in the elasticity of the lens material.
Most people experience the first signs of presbyopia between 45 and 55 years of age and, for example, small fonts can no longer be seen sharply. Weak reading glasses with an addition of +1 diopters provide help for relaxed reading. Since presbyopia progresses slowly up to the sixties, this addition must be increasingly reinforced.
The eyeglass lens focuses light rays in such a way that even closer objects are reproduced sharply on the retina. Since the natural lens can still partially accommodate at the onset of presbyopia, reading glasses with +1.0 to +1.5 diopters are sufficient at first. Later, stronger glasses with up to +3 diopters will be required to be able to read smaller texts nearby.
Short-sighted people with a myopia of -1 to -2.5 diopters notice presbyopia only in an attenuated form. The short-sighted person can often see well even in old age without glasses nearby. However, he needs a visual aid for the distance and the intermediate area. People with greater short-sightedness of more than 3 diopters can only see very close without glasses and therefore only benefit from their natural short-sightedness to a limited extent.
People who have mild farsightedness notice the reduced ability to accommodate earlier than normal-sighted people. You will therefore need reading glasses earlier. Depending on the extent of farsightedness, glasses are also required for remote use, for example, to be able to watch TV or drive a car in a relaxed manner.
No, but it is still useful to use only weak reading glasses at the onset of presbyopia in order to maintain residual accommodation for as long as possible and not to spoil the eye too much.
Presbyopia cannot be stopped by eye training or medication. There are eye drops that constrict the pupils and thus allow a better depth of focus, which can improve close vision. Due to side effects, including poor vision in poor lighting conditions and eye irritation, these drops are only used in individual cases.
Presbyopia can also be treated with eye surgery, but there are various approaches with different advantages and disadvantages
Normal-sighted people who become presbyopic initially only need reading glasses, which they can wear to read or work.
At the beginning, presbyopic people who are also slightly short-sighted can remove their binoculars to read in order to see sharply and therefore do not have need for readers.
So-called progressive lenses can be adjusted to prevent the glasses being constantly put on and taken off. The upper part of these lenses includes, if necessary, a correction for the distance. A so-called addition is cut into the lower part of the lenses, which helps to compensate for the lack of accommodation in presbyopic people.
At first, blurred vision, dizziness, shoulder and neck pain, and poor depth perception are normal. These symptoms can also occur with perfectly fitted progressive glasses. To avoid dangerous situations, during the acclimatisation phase, progressive glasses should never be worn in traffic, climbing stairs or playing sports.
Wearing progressive spectacles has been shown to significantly increase the risk of accidents. Some patients are unable to get used to this so-called progressive look throughout their lives and are forced to look for another solution to handle their presbyopia.
There are various surgical procedures to enable vision at a distance and up close.
