Does presbyopia get worse with age?

Presbyopia is the degenerative condition of ageing eyes. As you get older, the eye becomes less flexible and you may notice that your up-close eye focusing worsens and you may have to hold things far away in order to read them.

Sadly, presbyopia is not preventable and it affects everyone at some point in our lives. It gets worse over time and is a part of aging. Of course, it will affect everybody to different degrees, but a large proportion of people will have to start wearing reading glasses and need to upgrade them every few years.

Below we will explore how your eyes age and what you can do to turn back time and see the world as it should be seen.

Your eyes when presbyopia begins

From age 40, you are at your prime to experience the negative effects of ageing eyes.

Common symptoms of presbyopia are¹https://www.specsavers.co.uk/eye-health/presbyopia:

• Difficulty reading small text
• ‘Tromboning’²https://kyeye.com/eyesight-getting-worse-how-vision-changes-as-we-age/ – when you hold reading material a lot further or closer to you in order to see it.
• Blurred vision at normal reading distance
• Struggling to read or do close-up work in dim lighting.
• Getting headaches or eye strain after reading or doing close-up work
• Squinting to focus your vision

What is presbyopia?

When the internal lens of your eye ages, it hardens. This is called presbyopia. When you’re young, your lens is elastic and malleable. Your lens can change shape in order to zoom in and out and to focus more clearly. Just as a camera would. But when presbyopia develops, it is not possible to pan as easily and this leads to the symptoms above.

An important note about the sun
Sun exposure is particularly harmful to eye health and it’s a big problem in Australia. Here, we have one of the highest levels of UV radiation³https://www.insightnews.com.au/more-than-half-of-aussies-unaware-the-sun-causes-permanent-eye-damage/ in the world. It’s estimated that 55% of Aussies (that’s over 13 million!) have one or more vision problems which are likely due to over-exposure to UV light. A lot of people who have grown up with this will see some effects later in life if they haven’t worn the right protection.

What happens with continued presbyopia?

Presbyopia does not go away on its own and if left untreated, your lens will continue to harden until it goes cloudy and opaque – this is known as cataracts.

This is a critical condition and produces symptoms such as⁴https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cataracts/symptoms-causes/syc-20353790:

• Blurred or cloudy vision
• Increased sensitivity to light
• Colours fade and appear more yellow
• Night-vision difficulty
• Double vision in a single eye

If cataracts continue to progress, you could go blind.

How you can treat presbyopia without reading glasses

A lot of people settle for reading glasses, but it is commonly reported that they’re annoying and hard to get used to.

We have two solutions available for you:

Lens replacement surgery

Here, we would replace your hardened lens with an artificial one known as an IOL (Intraocular lens). We offer various different types of lenses, such as our popular multifocal contact lenses.

This safe and effective procedure produces high success and low complication rates. Another great thing about refractive lens exchange is the quick healing time (1 – 2 weeks) and the results are permanent.

LASIK blended vision

This procedure is a form of laser correction that uses LASIK technology. We correct the dominant eye for distance vision, and the non-dominant eye to improve shortsightedness. This is a great solution if you’re looking for something less invasive. You’ll be back to normal activities within 48 hours and it will take 6-8 weeks for your eyes to adjust to your new vision.

We’re here to help

If you’d like to find out more about the treatments we offer to combat your presbyopia and to reduce or eliminate your need for glasses or contact lenses, book an assessment with us.