Presbyopia and Aging Vision

The new Seattle Public Library, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaus, became an international hit the minute it opened its doors in 2004. People lined up around the block to see the "Books Spiral," the honeycombed glass windows, and the colorful new reading room...and of course, they also came to check out reading material. While most people could read the huge Dewey decimal numbers on the floor of the Books Spiral, many of them, when they got home, found their arms weren't quite long enough to read the books they'd borrowed.

Don't worry, these people are not suffering from Short Arm Disease, but rather a condition called "presbyopia," -more commonly known as a sign of middle age.

Beginning around age 40, most of us will experience presbyopia, the progressive inability of the lens of the eye to change shape and focus clearly on near objects. This is due to lost flexibility in the lens and is a natural part of aging. In order for us to see images clearly, light rays enter the eye, where the lens bends and focuses the rays on the retina. The lens changes shape to accommodate the differences in light coming from objects at different distances.

Besides having to hold your book farther and farther away to be able to read it, the symptoms of presbyopia are:

• Words appear blurry at a previously comfortable reading distance.
• Brighter light is needed to see clearly. (Bright light constricts the pupils, changing the focus of light on the retina.)
• It is difficult to read late at night, or when tired or stressed.
• Eye discomfort, fatigue, or drowsiness may occur during close work. (This is because the eye muscles are strained while working to change the lens shape.)
• Headaches may occur, as a result of muscle tension.

Presbyopia, or "old eyes," normally continues to progress until about age sixty-five or seventy, creating the need for progressively stronger reading glasses at regular intervals. Many people try to fix this problem themselves as their vision changes, buying generic glasses at the drugstore or supermarket. (If you've seen the movie Something's Gotta Give, the scene where Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson realize they have been wearing each other's reading glasses for months will ring a bell here.)

While buying generic glasses may be an acceptable short-term solution, in the long run, you may want to investigate Eye Exercises. Exercising your eyes can help to prevent and improvement of this condition.

It is also important to get a regular and thorough checkup by a qualified vision specialist. The doctor can determine that what you are experiencing is indeed the beginning of aging-related eye disorder, rather than a potentially more serious eye problem, such as cataracts.                 

In addition to eye exercises there are also some general steps you can take to deal with presbyopia:                                    

1. Look up and away often when performing prolonged near-vision tasks.
   
2. Illumination on what you are reading should be three times brighter than the rest of the room. Do not read under a single lamp in a dark room. Eliminating glare is especially important for close-up work.
   
3. Sit up straight and keep your work at eye level, maintaining a distance of about 14 to 16 inches from your eyes when performing near-vision tasks.
   
4. Avoid the temptation to recline. Sit upright while you're reading or watching television.
   
5. Participate in outdoor activities that require distance-seeing. Human beings were not designed for constant seeing less than an arm's length away. We have hunter-soldier eyes for survival, spotting game and enemies at a distance.
   
6. Increasing Your Computer Font Size

   For those of you who can't read the words on your computer screen without wearing glasses, there's a quick and easy way to increase the size of the text on any web page you go to. The catch is that you need to have a roller wheel on your mouse that scrolls up and down the page. This type of mouse is available at any office supply or computer store.

   On any web page you visit, press and hold the "Ctrl" button while scrolling the roller wheel down as if you were scrolling down the page.

   Each roller wheel click will increase the text size by one font point. To reduce the text size back to normal, just hold the "Ctrl" button on your keyboard while scrolling the roller wheel upward!

   For those of you without a roller wheel on your mouse, you can increase the text size by doing the following:

   1) Open your web browser.
   2) Click "View" in the upper left corner.
   3) Select "Text Size" and then select "larger" or "largest".
   4) To return to the original size, perform the preceding steps and select "medium" or
       "small" accordingly.

   *Note - This only works with Internet Explorer Browsers. For Netscape or Mozilla browsers, press the "Ctrl" key simultaneously with the + or - symbols to increase and decrease text size.

So get out to your local library and stock up on all the summer reading you need for lazy days at the beach. And though you may have presbyopia, just be grateful you'll never get Short Arm Disease!