May is the month of healthy vision.
If you hold your smartphone with your arm outstretched to read the screen – rather than take a selfie – you could be suffering from presbyopia.
Presbyopia is when your eyes lose the ability to focus on close objects. This sounds scary, but presbyopia is a natural part of aging and happens to everyone.
Over time, the lens of your eyes hardens and becomes less flexible, making it harder for your lens to change shape to focus on nearby objects—think reading a book or looking at the clock.
In our recent survey, we asked women and those assigned female at birth (AFAB) about their eye health and their experiences with presbyopia. Overall, prescription glasses were the first choice to help with presbyopia symptoms (65%).
Creative ways participants reported adapting to presbyopia symptoms included:
- Hold objects at arm’s length
- Borrow reading glasses
- Enlarge fonts
- With a magnifying glass
- Enlarge images
Here you can find more information about presbyopia, treatment options for presbyopia and our survey results.
Read: Eye Health for Women 101 >>
Risk factors for presbyopia
Age is the biggest risk factor for presbyopia. For most people, symptoms — blurred vision, headaches, eyestrain, inability to read close-ups — begin by age 40.
In our survey, almost 9 out of 10 people were aware that age has a negative impact on vision. But participants who were diagnosed with presbyopia were significantly more likely to believe that vision worsens with age compared to participants who were not diagnosed with presbyopia.
Although presbyopia occurs in almost everyone, risk factors for premature presbyopia may include:
- Farsightedness (the inability to see things near the eyes)
- They suffer from certain health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and multiple sclerosis
- Taking certain medications such as antidepressants, diuretics and antihistamines
How to diagnose presbyopia
Presbyopia is diagnosed during a routine eye exam.
Your doctor will give you various tests to check your vision.
- Visual acuity test (the large letters on a blackboard) to check your eyesight
- Refraction test for eyeglass lenses
- Slit lamp examination to check the eye structure
According to our survey, most participants – 7 out of 10 – get regular eye exams.
And most people – also 7 in 10 – would see an HCP if they had symptoms of presbyopia, which is crucial to detecting changes in eye health.
While few respondents were diagnosed with presbyopia, it’s important to talk to your doctor if you notice any vision problems, no matter how small, and to have regular eye exams to catch any problems early, when they are more easily treated.
Treatments for presbyopia
Presbyopia occurs as we age – so we can’t put the genie back in the bottle. However, there are treatment options that can help you see clearly.
Treatments for presbyopia include:
- Glasses (with or without prescription)
- Contact lenses
- operation
- Prescription eye drops
Survey respondents with presbyopia were more likely to receive prescription reading glasses (62%) than those not diagnosed with presbyopia (34%).
Eye exams are a clear winner
Without treatment, presbyopia can lead to headaches, eyestrain, and an overall lower quality of life. So if you’re in your 40s, get your eyes checked and save the arm extensions for selfies with your new glasses.
This educational resource was created with support from Viatris, a member of the HealthyWomen Corporate Advisory Council.
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