Presbyopia: what is it about and which solutions exist?

A blurry vision, need to stretch your arms to see clearly, difficulty reading in darkness...Certainly, presbyopia has something to do with this.

No worries: presbyopia affects more than 40% of the world's population and is just a natural evolution of sight that affects everyone, especially after the age of 40.

Difficulties with near visions and mainly while reading are symptoms of presbyopia. So what is it exactly and what solutions are available, to resume a normal near sight?

An unavoidable process… or a sickness?

Presbyopia is mostly an inevitable process: the one of the lens’s ageing.

When one talks about presbyopia, one is specifically talking about the loss of accommodation, the adjustment between far and near vision, which provides a less sharp image than usual.

In concrete terms, the lens loses part of its elasticity and its capacity for accommodation with age, preventing the eye from reproducing a clear image. It’s as if the lens of your binoculars or camera misfired: the adaptation (the “focus” or the focusing) cannot be carried out properly anymore. 

Contrary to what one may think, presbyopia is not a type of sight issue which is similar to others: whether you are nearsighted, astigmatic or hyperopic, you will certainly be presbyopic.

Another clarification, presbyopia is not a disease, although it is a deterioration of a body’s organ and "treatment" is required (glasses).

Without realizing it, gestures change and someone presbyopic takes on mechanisms to adapt their sight to daily requirements: stretching out their arms to move the book away while reading for example, is an obvious sign, to say the least.

Near visual acuity decreases as it makes the image of nearby objects blurry. When a person is prone to presbyopia, they also ask for stronger lighting because the more the pupil dilates in the dark, the more bothersome the presbyopia turns out.

As a reminder, accommodation is the transition from far vision to near vision, it represents adaptive ocular modifications that ensure sharpness of images over different viewing distances. Actually, it's the work of the eye muscle, namely the lens.

This is the reason why it’s important to wear corrective glasses, lenses or a surgical operation may turn out to be important at some point, because presbyopia continues to evolve until the moment when the accommodation reflex and the "Disaccommodation" reflex have completely disappeared.

The refractive surgery operation

One of the most commonly recommended solutions for presbyopia is the so-called "corrective" operation for presbyopia. It is suited for people who are mostly over the age of 40 and allows the patient to make do or almost without glasses. 

It is a laser operation that takes place as an outpatient surgery.

Contact lenses Another solution is to gradually use contact lenses (multifocal or segmented).

Progressive lenses are very effective in solving vision issues that are related to presbyopia, they can correct presbyopia, regardless of the initial defective vision. This is a good method, but it takes a long time to adapt.

Moreover, you need to be careful and consult your ophthalmologist before using lenses..

Reading glasses to be able to see up close and read properly again

To obtain or recover a close-up vision which is clear, precise and comfortable at the same time, the presbyopic person needs additional power to compensate for the lack of accommodation of his or her eye: this can be combined with a possible correction

Due to their “magnifying” effect, reading glasses are great allies for people with presbyopia.

Fragile frames, never within reach and often lack in style? Many presbyopes seem to share this vision.

Nooz Optics has developed the ranges of its products around this theme to correct your presbyopia and simplify your daily life, while solving these issues.

All Nooz reading glasses are designed by ophthalmologists and are certified as medical devices.

3 values are at the core of our optical innovation products’ design :

• Quality:

• Innovation

• Accessibility:

To make these part of the daily lives for presbyopes even more easily, all our ranges are available for "simple" reading, with anti-blue light lenses and as sunglasses.

Currently, our Nooz reading glasses are only designed to ease presbyopia. Therefore, these can’t correct myopia, astigmatism or any other vision issue. As the expression goes, every problem has a solution. 

In order to know the correction you will need, we advise you to consult your prescription or go here to do a reading test.