Eye Problems And Aging

[jyl]

In the last few months, I have really been feeling a lot of eyestrain.

I'm having trouble focusing close enough to read things closer than 18". But some small print is too hard to read at that distance, not ordinary print but little stuff like the characters in my Chinese-English dictionary, the damn things are 1/8" square at most, how am I supposed to count the effing strokes?

My eyes have also been watering when I work on the computer, which I do like 12 hours a day. I sit fairly far from my monitors, over 2 feet away.

I am extremely nearsighted with astigmatism, and wear glasses. I'm 45 y/o.

So, I obviously need to go to the opthamologist, but what's up. Is it simply time for bifocals? Are they hard to get used to? If I went to contacts (which I have worn in the past), can I put on reading glasses over the contacts, for when I need to focus close?

[Jim Richards]

I started wearing progressive lenses at your age. Essentially bifocals, but without the obvious lines. They seem to work fine for me. If you want to wear contacts, you can use reading glasses. I think the progressive lens capability is available in contacts; however, I may be wrong.

[IROC]

I'm 43 and am having similar issues. I talked to my eye doctor about it and it is simply a function of getting old. He said that the lens of the eye gets stiffer as we age and it becomes harder for the muscles of the eye to "bend" it enough to see things very closely (especially with contacts in to correct the nearsightedness). I may be off in my explanaion somewhat, but I think that is what is going on.

One thing that can be done (with contacts, anyway) is to wear one contact that corrects the nearsightedness and another that allows you to see things up close. The brain figures this out pretty quickly and it seems to work. I tried it, though, and my brain never "made the switch". I couldn't see anything. My computer screen was just fuzzy enough that it made it hard to get any work done, so I went back to my regular contact prescritpion. Now I am having a harder time reading fine print, etc.

[dmcummins]

I started wearing reading glasses around 48. It doesn't get better. Just part of getting old.

[Ray B]

A friend of mine who is 50 wears no "cheaters"-even reading small print. I asked him about it and Like IROC says, it's all about bending the ever-stiffening lens. My buddy does eye exercises daily to strengthen the muscles. I think it's called the "see clearly" method. Maybe part genetics, but it seems to work for him.

[cgarr]

I have problems reading so now I just look at the pictures?

[Super_Dave_D]

I have the same issues and my Eye Dr. said it was almost time for bifocals BUT he said my arms are long enough to hold it off for a while.

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by Ray B

A friend of mine who is 50 wears no "cheaters"-even reading small print. I asked him about it and Like IROC says, it's all about bending the ever-stiffening lens. My buddy does eye exercises daily to strengthen the muscles. I think it's called the "see clearly" method. Maybe part genetics, but it seems to work for him.

I forget the correct term but if you have poor distance vision it tends to reduce the need for corrective lenses up close. I am 49 and just barely starting to notice any change in my up close vision. I can read very small print up close.

But my distnce vision is crap.

[Joeaksa]

You are at the right age. Most people have it from age 42 to 45. There is one way around it but dying is not recommended...

Go to the .99c store and buy a handful of "cheaters" so you can put them in each car and room in the house. Makes life easier.

[JavaBrewer]

I'm 46 and experiencing the same stuff. I've always been very nearsighted (-6.0) in both eyes. Now I'm struggling with small print and fast focus transition. Example, I'm always doing a double take of cool cars/motorcycles going the opposite direction on the freeway. Now ~ 50% of the time I can't focus on the vehicle quick enough as it goes by. If I follow the object approach then no problem but then I wouldn't be watching where I was going... I think my eye issues are also a cause for increasing tendency toward motion sickness. I really struggle as a passenger in a car.

Glad I held off getting the eye surgery done 5 or so years ago.

[TerryH]

Congrats on getting old! I had always prided myself on my eyesight. Have never worn prescription glasses and always tested better than 20/20.... then I hit 45.

Now it's arms length on any small type like on lables and most magazines. So I bought 2 pairs of dime store reading glasses with magnifications of 1.5 and 2.5 and they remove the strain of trying to do close work with small print. Sounds like bi-focal time for you.

For computer eyestrain make sure you have backlight other than your monitor, don't overdo the brightness and contrast, and occasionally blink or close your eyes for 5 seconds.

[Max Von]

[QUOTE=TerryH;3987232]Congrats on getting old! I had always prided myself on my eyesight. Have never worn prescription glasses and always tested better than 20/20.... then I hit 45.

+1

In the past doctors would say "You should be flying fighter jets with that vision." Now at 49 I recently took a physical for a job with Chrylser LLC and couldn't believe how bad my eyesight has become. It was truly unbelievable. I guess we all should be thankful to have any vision.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by IROC

I'm 43 and am having similar issues. I talked to my eye doctor about it and it is simply a function of getting old. He said that the lens of the eye gets stiffer as we age and it becomes harder for the muscles of the eye to "bend" it enough to see things very closely (especially with contacts in to correct the nearsightedness). I may be off in my explanaion somewhat, but I think that is what is going on.

The lens starts to slowly crystallize, making it harder for the muscles to flex for close vision. I went to see my opthamologist about this about 4 years ago. He said nothing can be done other than start using the lowest strength reading glasses when focusing close. I got some but rarely use them. Otherwise I have perfect vision, but man...when I'm trying to read the text on the back of a tv or other equipment...egads.

[Mule]

I had retinal detachment surgery last Friday. No cause other than age & luck of the draw.

[notmytarga]

I can't top those pictures. But I can add some medical detail about presbyopia, which is age related worsening of near-vision. Presbycusis is age related hearing deterioration.

A few things that haven't been mentioned:
It is worse in low light - because the iris dilates exposing more of the lens which isn't focusing adequately. Pinhole cameras don't need a lens. Improving illumination can help a lot.

Taking off the glasses you use to see distance clearly will remove those concave lenses - effectively adding power - try that when reading. Astigmatism might make this less effective.

Lasik surgery permanently changes the refractive power of your cornea - so you can't take off your distance glasses to read anymore because you aren't wearing any. That is why they like to do one eye less to do 'monovision'

I was told by an optometrist that I would have been less likely to need glasses starting in college if I had worn weak reading glasses during all those hours of studying. Makes sense because - - reading and close work require your eyes to converge on the object and the extraocular muscles pull the eye into a long shape by millimeters. This elongation requires the negative diopter (concave) lenses to focus the image on the retina. I recall Chinese schools having pupils periodically press on their closed eyes to prevent nearsightedness. I can imagine this working. Vision exercises and such may be too late for me however.

The state of the art for this problem is a 'clear lens exchange' with multifocal lenses like ReZoom. If you are having cataract surgery these upgraded lenses will add $3K to the bill for each eye. My coworker wore both contacts and glasses together and still had bad vision - with these new lenses she has clear near and far uncorrected vision and is quite happy.

[Mule]

That's next. Glad to hear it was so successful.

[RoninLB]

I've been wearing glasses forever.


when investigating a new PC monitor and eye work involved I came up with the best distance for reading. Seems 30" offers the best and less work load on the eyeballs. It becomes more work the greater you are above or below 30" with being x" distance closer more work than being that same x" distance further away from 30".

that's all I know.