New Vision for Older People

Presbyopia is an age-related eye condition that affects people in their forties or older. This occurs when people start to have blurry vision when reading or working at the computer. When you have reached your forties and tend to read a book at arm’s length or feel dizzy when doing certain activities, then you may have presbyopia.



Presbyopia is caused by the thickening and loss of flexibility of the natural lens inside the eye. The lens gradually grows hard and less elastic over time, making it difficult for the eye to focus up close. Treatment of this condition involves eyewear such as bifocals or progressive addition lenses (PALs).



Progressive lenses have "multifocal" lenses that provide features that make it easier for the eyes to adjust in viewing things up close or far. There is a clear vision at all distances. Unlike wearing bifocals and trifocals, you do not have to bob your head up and down or adjust your posture to see clearly. These lenses also eliminate the sight of images jumping, as when wearing bifocals or trifocals. When you look across the room with progressive lenses, you do not spot visible lines—or rather these images jumping—when looking at objects at a certain distance.



Another kind of lens is the multifocal contact lenses which an Indianpolis eye doctor can prescribe to treat presbyopia. Some multifocal contact lenses have a bifocal design where there are two lenses, one for near vision and the other distance vision. Other multifocal designs function just like progressive lenses where there is lens power adjusted for smooth vision from distance to close up.



In an Indianapolis eye clinic, multifocal contact lenses are available in soft and rigid gas permeable (GP) lens materials. Soft multifocal lenses are worn occasionally, while GP multifocal lenses are worn every day. Compared with soft multifocal lenses, GP lenses provide sharper vision.



Indianpolis eye doctors also prescribe the concentric bifocal pattern, a contact lens design used in multifocal lenses. This particular design contains a small circle for near correction and a larger circle around it for distance correction. Other designs include alternating image designs and simultaneous image designs. In alternating image designs, there are different zones for both near and distance vision, while in simultaneous image designs, the lens contains both the near and distance portions placed in front of the pupil.