Eyes Over 40

Have you ever heard the old saying, “Your arms are getting too short…?”

Perhaps you have Presbyopia. Presbyopia is not a refractive error, but rather, a condition of the eye. Specifically, Presbyopia is a natural break down of the ciliary muscle and accommodative system. As our body slows its production of collagen, the elasticity in the lens inside of the eye, the crystalline lens, loses its ability to flex.

Here is how it works

When we view something at near, many things are happening in the eye-brain visual system automatically. The eyes turn downward and inward (convergence) and the lens inside the eye focuses on the reading material, or near image. This is known as accommodation. Our ability to accommodate for near tasks gets more and more difficult as we age. While medicine has made great advancements in the ability to slow the aging process of the body, the aging process of the eye cannot be controlled.

Accommodation is the body’s response to blurry near vision by adding magnification at near. The accommodative system counteracts blurry images up close while using the eye-brain visual system to add magnification (convex lens power) to aid in near vision. After a while, as the lens loses elasticity, accommodation becomes increasingly difficult. This leads to asthenopia, or uncomfortable vision/tired eyes.

Thanks to technology, science and engineering can replace the magnification abilities of the lens with an ophthalmic lens. An ophthalmic lens can converge the light rays at varying focal lengths just as the eyes’ natural system.

If you have Presbyopia, you are in a very popular group… baby boomer’s and beyond… The good news is, technology has kept up with your visual needs and can supply advanced lens system to aid in your correction of Presbyopia. Whether in an office, or relaxing on a ship, there is an optical solution to your visual needs.