Presbyopia, which impairs your reading vision, is a normal progression of eye health. People usually notice that their close-up vision is diminishing in their 40s and 50s. Here’s why: the focusing lens that we were born with begins to lose its elasticity over time. As a result, most people compensate by pushing objects further and further away in order to see them clearly. This means you need a different correction for your vision for close-up work than you need for distance vision. Patients who do not need vision correction in their youth begin to need reading glasses, and patients wearing correction for distance may require bifocals or progressive lenses in order to see both near and far.

Treatment Options for Presbyopia

Great news: Now, there are attractive options, other than glasses, that treat Presbyopia. Key-Whitman Eye is one of the only eye centers in North Texas to offer you the full range of options. Many patients are especially excited about the new high-tech procedure that is designed to treat Presbyopia:

Mono vision is achieved with either refractive surgery or with a contact lens. This is where the non-dominant eye is left slightly nearsighted, while the dominant eye is fully corrected for distance only. Mono vision is a temporary treatment because presbyopia continues to progress and the power or correction required changes. Patients usually tolerate mono vision well, but in certain situations they may require additional correction, like when driving at night or reading in dim light.

Multifocal contact lenses work much like progressive lenses in glasses. These allow patients to see through a different part of the lens depending on how they position their heads; seeing through the near correction when they look downward and seeing through the distance portion of the contact lens while looking straight ahead.

As presbyopia continues to progress, the natural lens becomes a cataract which will need to be removed. Learn more about cataracts here. Some patients choose to have a refractive lens exchange with one our high-technology lenses implanted. These high-technology lenses are designed to give good functional vision near, far or in-between.

Key-Whitman Eye Center has successfully treated many patients with presbyopia and improved their vision.