What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is a normal and inevitable age-related process whereby the eyes gradually lose their ability to see things clearly up close. Currently there is no way to cure or to reverse the onset of presbyopia. Fortunately, presbyopia can be treated with spectacles or contact lenses.

The onset of presbyopia usually begins around the age of 40. A patient notices this when they start stretching their arm out to hold reading materials farther away from them to see clearly – also known as “long arm syndrome”. A patient may also start to experience various symptoms such as eye strain or headaches after reading or doing close work, having fatigue after reading, needing brighter light when reading or doing close work and squinting.

The physiology behind this age-related process involves the lens, which is a structure in your eye that sits behind your iris, which is the coloured part of your eye. When you are young the lens is soft and flexible and therefore can change shape easily. The lens changes shape in order to bend the light that enters our eye. This bending of light helps us to see clearly. After about the age of 40, the lens becomes hardened, and it becomes more difficult for the lens to change shape to see clearly at close distances.

Reading spectacles will help to compensate for the eyes’ loss of ability to see clearly when they, for example, read a book. These spectacles are made with plus (convex) lenses which aim to enlarge or magnify the patient’s viewing area. They should not be used for driving or for watching TV. Reading spectacles allow the patient to hold reading material at a comfortable distance without stretching their arms out.