Posts Tagged ‘presbyopia’

As Young as you Feel

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

We all know that our bodies throw us a few curve balls as get older…..aches and pains, grey hairs, senior moments….and of course Presbyopia! Much to the excitement of Opticians everywhere, we can finally sell even the most eagle eyed amongst you some specs. Presbyopia occurs as the lens inside the eye stiffens over time and makes it increasingly difficult to see fine detail and small print.

In years gone by, we all joked with patients that Presbyopia is a sign of getting old, a sure indicator of middle age. Things in 2010 are however a little different. What does a fifty year old look like today? How many of us succumb to elasticated waistbands, comfy slippers and letting our wrinkles run free? Nowadays Botox is as common as mascara, and none of us are willing to admit to middle age, even at the age of forty, fifty and beyond. Would you want to tell George Clooney, Shah Rukh Khan or Brad Pitt that they’re old?!

So if these guys are still hot property, then potentially so is every other forty plus Presbyope, who just happens to need a little help for close work. Some suggestions to help stave off the Botox and choose the easy option to look younger:

1.Never go for Bifocals! The visible line is a dead giveaway, and the next step will be the Zimmer frame!

2.Avoid the dreaded half moon reading specs, you’ll look like an aged Headmaster. If you do need to look over your glasses pick a shallow little trendy frame and only peer over the top if no one else is watching.

3.Try varifocals – there’s no line, they’ll fit in the trendiest of tiny frames, and you can see the computer, small print and far distance without anyone guessing your age.

4.Talk to your Optician about varifocal contact lenses, for permanent or part time wear.

As we all live longer and healthier lives, Presbyopia will be a nuisance that we live with for many years. Don’t pick an ageing solution that makes you feel bad about it!

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As Time Goes By……..

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

As well as the usual aches and pains we expect from middle age onwards, our eyes gradually start to cause a few problems too. The most common complaint is presbyopia, causing us to find small print increasingly hard to see from the mid-forties. This is simply corrected with reading glasses, which you can pick up cheaply from the online optician such as The Internet Glasses Company. Ready reading glasses are useful to quickly glance at things, but for concentrated periods of wear most patients need their full and correctly made up prescription.

As time goes on it’s not just the size of print that causes difficulty. The contrast of coloured lettering on coloured paper, particularly if written in fancy fonts, can be hard to read comfortably. Patients often return to the optician because they struggle with reading, but the light they use to read by can be the culprit. Often a reading lamp will help, experiment with the height and angle to give a good spread of light that doesn’t cause eye strain by creating strong glare.

If cataracts start to form then this can interfere with your vision by altering your colour perception, as well as decreasing your standard of vision. The cataract cannot be operated on until it is ready, so keep up to date with your eye exams and make sure your glasses are as good as they can possibly be. Have them updated even for a small change, as it may make a big difference to your daily life.

As time goes by reading glasses may not be enough for some elderly patients with serious deterioration in their vision. They may need to move on to more complex solutions such as low vision aids, specifically tailored for different eye conditions. Always go back to your optician if sight deteriorates, as they can refer you to different specialists who can provide further help.

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Another Forty Year Old Virgin!

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Well I finally faced up to my fears last week, and took a brave step into a whole new world……don’t be too impressed…..it may not be that big a deal to you!!  Basically I finally got my eyes tested and started wearing my new glasses!

I’d been in denial for quite a while actually, pretending that I could still see to read, ignoring the crows feet rapidly spreading because I have to squint after dark to see the paper. Guessing at menus in restaurants because they’re all small writing in fancy fonts. Several friends told me that this is what happens when you get to forty.  Not bad going then as I’m now forty-six,  so I went for my first ever test, quite liked all the gadgets and technical stuff, left clutching my glasses lenses prescription and a slight feeling of confusion!

I was too scared to talk to the optician, although she seemed really nice. Perhaps I’ve got some kind of consulting room phobia. I got online when I got home and played around with some internet glasses selling sites. I was quite relieved that I only need specs for reading, and at last they didn’t find any bizarre diseases or give me big chunky bottle bottom lenses. I pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and soon my specs were winging their way towards me.

I like wearing them actually, they’re kind of smart, and I feel they give me an intellectual air! I no longer have to pretend to do the Times crossword! Writing is blacker and sharper, and although I can still manage in daylight, they’re definitely better in the evenings. The optician says my near sight will get slightly worse over time, but I’ll just need stronger lenses. This is called Presbyopia, when you need glasses for reading. Just another part of getting older!

I’m getting a second pair so I can keep them at work, in case I do need them for reading very small print. They’re making life an awful lot easier, so I wish I’d gone a couple of years ago.

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Let’s Be Accommodating!

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Of all the wonderful things that our bodies are capable of, there’s a very clever system in your eyes that does a great deal of work without you ever having to think about it! It lets us lead busy, dynamic, varied lives and lets us work, rest and play with clear vision and no effort what so ever. This little trick that the eye performs is called accommodation, and the only time we ever think about it is when it stops working….

Your eyes are capable of accommodation from birth onwards, and the process is due to the crystalline lens, a lens that works away inside your eyeball. This lens is held by ligaments which keep it suspended, and they stretch the lens or relax it to allow you to focus on near or far objects. By altering the shape of the lens it effectively gives you a system of different powers to look through, thereby letting you see at different distances.

As babies, we have very bouncy lenses which change power and let us see really close too. As we age the lens keeps growing, adding layers like an onion. As the years go by we loose the very close focus, until around the mid-forties when the focus is just too far away to see close too, and our arms get too short to read comfortably. If you had a group of people of different ages with perfect vision, you could plot accommodation changes by seeing how close they can read. You would see that as they get older they have to hold things further away.

We call the need for near sight correction presbyopia, and at this stage people need  separate lens powers for distance and reading. It’s only when this happens that we realise how easy life was when accommodation did all the work for us! Any solution for the close work problem is a compromise, and while most people find the glasses and prescription lenses that suit them, it’s still not as easy as when accommodation was accommodating their requirements!

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Reading Made Easy!

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

There has been lots written about presbyopia, and what your options are at this stage. We do however gets lots of queries, so here is a quick re-cap on what your choices are.

Around age forty you’ll find your arms get too short! You can still thread a needle or see small print, but you have to hold it further away. Your eyes have become presbyopic and you need help for reading. To decide on the solution to this problem you need to think about whether you need correction for reading, middle, and/or far distances.

A)  If you only have a reading prescription – buy single vision reading glasses. This gives you a wide field of view, they are cheap, easy to wear, and you can keep several pairs by the phone, at work etc. Choose small shallow frames, and then you can look over the top of them to see in the distance.

B)   If you have a reading and middle distance prescription – you can have separate pairs for middle distance and reading. This will work if you only do one thing at a time, like read small print (reading specs) or use a computer (middle distance specs) If however you need to multi-task, then you could go for varifocals – see close, middle distance and far away – good if you don’t use a computer all day long. If you do lots of VDU work, you could have a bifocal, with middle distance power in the main part of the lens, and reading in the segment at the bottom.

C)   If you have a reading, middle distance and distance prescription – then you need varifocals, which have all three powers in one lens. This will let you do everything without swapping glasses around. If you do lots of VDU work or lots of close work, then you could have a separate single vision pair for specific tasks.

Mail the IGC if you need advice, remember that buying from an online optician is cheap enough to let you have separate pairs for your individual needs. Our qualified opticians and dispensing opticians can give you professional help at bargain cost.

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Progressive Progress!

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

Within the portfolio of lenses available to optical consumers, varifocals – also known as progressives, or three-in-one lenses – are the one most queried, feared and maligned! So let’s take a look at this incredibly useful and technologically advanced lens type, and hopefully destroy a few myths…

If you’ve got no idea what a varifocal is, a quick summary - a clever lens that does what your eyes did before presbyopia developed. At that certain age – usually around the forties – our eyes stop allowing us to focus on detail close too. Then the computer screen gets difficult. A progressive lens let you focus close up, at arms length, and in the far distance, in a lens with no visible lines.

Many people know someone who wore these lenses in the past and didn’t get on with them. As the first varifocal was developed in 1959, clearly technology has moved a little since then! Lens designs have dramatically altered since their first introduction, and all varifocals are now easy to wear.

The other story you may hear is that they take forever to get used too. In the past, this was certainly an issue. Some patients felt sea sick, others got terrible headaches, but thankfully this is now a thing of the past. You may feel a little odd for a day or two, but these problems are usually short lived and do not affect the majority of wearers.

As more and more of us use computers on a daily basis, and the ageing population stays fitter and healthier for a long life span, varifocals are the only option that allow you to do everything you want to do in a single pair of glasses. If ordering from an online optician make sure you can return them if there are problems, and then you have a safeguard – in the unlikely event that you’ll need it.

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Get Three-for-One

Monday, May 18th, 2009

We often mention varifocals, blithely throwing them into the conversation as if you’re all as geeky and glasses obsessed as us. We do realise though that some of have more of a life than us, and may not spend your time getting excited over new lenses and coatings. So – back to basics – what is a varifocal? What does it do? Do you need one?

You may already know that even if you don’t wear glasses when you’re young, everybody needs them for reading at some stage, usually when they reach their mid-forties.  (See our notes on presbyopia) A varifocal lens – also called a multifocal, or PAL, or progressive lens, gives you back the sight you had when you were younger.

The lens looks like any single vision lens – get some Grecian 2000 on your hair too and swear blind you’re only thirty – so nobody need know that you’re wearing them. Within the lens however there are different powers, to help you see close too, at arm’s length, and for far distance. The lens has the three prescriptions you need all in one, blended together to make things easy and comfortable

It’s better for you to get into varifocals as soon as you need help for reading, they are easier to adapt to when your reading prescription is lower. As so many of us are chained to our computer nowadays and all you baby boomers have such busy, active lives, varifocals are really the only solution if you want to everything without having to carry endless pairs of specs around – three-into-one will go!

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The Facts about Presbyopia

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

We’re all aware of visible signs of ageing – a sprinkling of grey hair, a few lines that show we enjoy life and laughing. There is however one sign of time passing that many of us do not understand. We’re talking about the visual problem Presbyopia, an unavoidable change in your sight that occurs after the age of forty. Let’s give you some facts, explanation and options to help you to deal with it.

Presbyopia usually becomes noticeable around the age of forty, although some people don’t have a problem until their early fifties. You’ll notice:

  • Having to hold things further away to see them – handwritten items, sewing, newspapers.
  • Finding it hard to read in poor light conditions, such as a restaurant menu at night.
  • Headaches or tired eyes after reading for long periods.
  • Difficulty seeing small detail or print.

Presbyopia occurs due to ageing of the lens inside your eye. From birth onwards this lens changes shape to let you focus at any distance. As time goes on flexibility decreases and the lens does not allow you to see close too any more. You’ll now need a prescription lens for reading and fine detail. It happens to everyone in time, and while you can’t prevent it, you can make wise choices to make life easier. So what are your options?

If you don’t have a distance prescription then reading glasses are a simple and cheap solution. They give a wide field of view, and you just pop them on when you need them. If you have a complicated prescription an Optician will make them, or you may be able to buy ready made glasses. If you decide on ready readers, get the correct power – ask your Optician what you need.

If you want to do more than one thing at once, such as read and look at TV, then you’ll need glasses that let you see both far and near. Varifocal lenses have three powers within the lens – distance, middle distance and reading. This restores your natural vision, letting you focus on everything with a smooth transition between all areas of the lens. They look just like single vision lenses – no one will guess your age!

Bifocals just have a reading and distance prescription. They can cause problems because they don’t have the middle distance section, so cannot be used at the computer, and you can’t see the dashboard when driving. The reading segment is also visible to people looking at you.

There are contact lens options too. Multifocal contact lenses give the same effect as Varifocal specs. Or you can wear distance contacts with reading specs over the top. The other option is called monovision, a compromise where you wear a lens in one eye that corrects your distance vision, and a reading lens in the other. Sounds odd but your brain does the job for you! It works well for suitable patients.

We hope that we’ve given you some useful information about Presbyopia, to help you make the right eyewear choices when the time comes. Think about what you do on a daily basis, and make a decision based on your lifestyle.

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