Presbyopia

Alternative names: Short arm syndrome.

Presbyopia is a term used to describe an eye in which the lens can no longer 'accommodate'.  Accommodation is the eye's way of changing its focusing distance: the lens thickens, increasing its ability to focus close-up.  At about the age of 40 the lens becomes less flexible and accommodation is gradually lost.  It is a normal process that everyone eventually experiences.

Signs and Symptoms

Most people first notice difficulty reading very fine print such as the phone book, a medicine bottle, or the stock market page.  Print seems to have less contrast and the eyes become easily fatigued when reading a book or computer screen.  Early on, holding reading material further away helps for many patients.  Eventually, reading correction in the form of reading glasses, bifocals or contact lenses is needed for close work.

Treatment and Prevention

The treatment for presbyopia is very simple, but is entirely dependent on the individual's age, lifestyle, occupation and hobbies.  If the patient has good distance vision and only has difficulty seeing up close, reading glasses are usually the easiest solution.  For others, bifocals (glasses with reading and distance correction) or separate pairs of reading and distance glasses are necessary.  Another option is monovision: adjusting one eye for distance vision, and the other eye for reading vision.  This can be done with contact lenses or permanently with refractive surgery.