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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    What is presbyopia?

    Related Topic
    Myopia & Hyperopia (shortsightedness & farsightedness)
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  • Andrew Koch

    Optometrist

    Andrew works in Tasmania at Total Eyecare, a group of independent practitioners that is Tasmanian owned.  He is part of a team that includes some of … View Profile

    Presbyopia is the condition where the eyes slowly reduce in their abilty to focus between different distances. It is typically experienced as the eyes taking longer to focus, often with the need to hold things further away to read and more difficulty seeing fine details in low light levels.

    Presbyopia is a normal part of human development. It is caused by growth of the lens in the eye over decades, reducing it's flexibility and ability to change it's focus.  

    In Australia, 80% of people find that within 1 month of their 45th birthday that they notice this difficulty in reading. It is a condition that slowly develops in the decade between 40 and 50. Shortsighted people often retain their reading vision and presbyopia has a reduced effect for them.

    It is a common misconception that this focusing change is caused by tired or ageing muscles, this is not the case. The eye muscles are unaffected, it is the proteins of the lens that harden, reducing the ability of the lens to change shape. This is why eye excercises are not very effective in improving the symptoms of presbyopia.

    It is relatively easy to improve our sight with glasses in this situation. We are fortunate that in the last 50 years, access to refractive care and high quality optical products have enabled our generation to sustain their vision so that we can read for our whole lifetime. Previous generations have not been so fortunate.

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