Presbyopia or tired eyesight
Presbyopia is a natural physiological alteration of the eye that appears after 40-45 years of age. Literally means "aged eye" and it is popularly known as "tired eyesight". As you get older, the lens of the eye and the ciliary muscle - the two structures that allow you to focus closely in a process called accommodation - gradually lose their flexibility.
The lens, a lens located at the back of the iris, has the ability to be flexible and change shape adapting to vision needs to be able to focus on objects from near and far. But around the age of 40, this lens can no longer change properly in the same way as before, and it is when everyday activities that require looking, such as reading or sewing, are difficult.
It is estimated that practically all of the patients suffer from presbyopia. people over 50 years, due not to eye problems but to aging. In the case of people who already have other pathologies such as myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism, presbyopia coexists with them, although it is possible that in the case of people with myopia, presbyopia takes a little longer to develop.
Causes of presbyopia or tired eyesight
The cause of presbyopia is the loss of flexibility of the lens through the natural aging process. The ciliary muscle, as it happens with the other muscles of the body, loses its elasticity and with it its capacity to focus the images. As the lens becomes less flexible, it loses the ability to focus on the closest objects. Presbyopia is not related to the fact of suffering some other visual pathology.
Symptoms of tired or presbyopic vision
The most obvious symptom of presbyopia is unfocused vision of nearby objects. For this reason, we are forced to move reading texts away from each other to be able to focus correctly and we need more light to read. Other symptoms are:
- Visual fatigue
- Headache
- Tiredness, after watching something up close
Presbyopia can be accompanied by other visual defects such as myopia, astigmatism or hyperopia.
Dr. Marta Suárez-Leoz. Ophthalmologist at the Hospital La Milagrosa, Madrid.
