Why do I need reading glasses?

People over 40 years old gradually lose the ability to change focus from distance to near and the need for reading glasses is a natural progression of aging. The first signs are the fact that you have to hold the book or newspaper further away to be able to read it, and you also find that you need a good light to be able to see the words clearly. Eventually your arms are not long to be able to read the words clearly and involuntarily end up buying reading glasses. Although this was called “reading vision.” It is the vision we use for checking the bills, putting on make-up or our daily routine of receiving and checking phone calls from our hand phone. Once you start wearing reading glasses, the days without it is always incomplete. Sometimes one or two or even 3 pairs of glasses may be required and makes life even more difficult and troublesome. As you get older, all the ‘elastic’ tissues in your body become less pliable e.g. knees, lower back, fingers, neck, and most especially your eye lens. This is a gradual unnoticeable changes throughout our life which is mostly occurs until the mid-forties. Normally the lens at birth focuses itself depending on your needs, by the movement of the eye muscles whether near or in far distance, unfortunately as lens aged become rigid and less flexible resulting in difficulty in the muscle to manipulate the lens. The near point focus tends to become further and further and resulted that you need to keep the object away to your eyes to be able get a clear view. This condition called “Presbyopia”.

            It is because you might have dysfunctional lens syndrome.
   

The term “dysfunctional lens syndrome” has been around for 15 years, but more physicians are adopting it as a way to improve both patient education and satisfaction.


A continuum of progression. The term describes the natural changes in the crystalline lens after approximately age 42. It’s a continuum that begins the day a person is born. When patients understand the lens aging process, they better understand their options.

We find this especially true of patients who had keratorefractive surgery and now need reading glasses. They come to him complaining that “my LASIK has worn off,” unaware that their lens is changing. The cornea is not the culprit.

Staging. The term has become more popular since it was stratified into stages, which aids in patient education. It’s a new language, and it explains why they are experiencing the symptoms,which outlined the stages as follows:

Stage 1: 42-50 year olds

• Lens starts to stiffen, loses focusing power
• Loss of near vision
• Development of higher-order aberrations
• Treatment options: Potential candidates for corneal laser mono/blended vision and corneal inlays

 

Stage 2:  50 years and older

• Loss of accommodation
• Light scatter formation degrading vision
• Decreased contrast and night vision
• Treatment options: Potential candidates for refractive lens exchange or mono/blended laser surgery with good education

 

Stage 3: 65 years and older

• Full cataract
• Poor visual quality
• Nucleus of the lens yellows, affects color perception
• Opacity with degraded vision