Causes
As we age, the natural lens of the eye, which is flexible in youth and allows the eye to focus at near and far distances, becomes firmer and resists changing shape and focus. This condition, a loss of accommodation, occurs because the human lens continues to add new cells throughout life. These new cells compress the lens, making it more dense and rigid.
Although certain muscles inside the eye cause the lens to change focus, as the lens ages and becomes more rigid these muscles cannot exert adequate force to make the lens change shape in order to focus.
Typically, an individual with normal distance vision, without the need for eyeglasses, will begin to experience presbyopia by their mid-40s.
Get the Facts
- Contrary to popular belief, eye exercises cannot overcome the problem as it is due to hardness of the lens of the eye and not due to weakness of muscles
- Patients who undergo cataract surgery to remove their clouded eye lens typically experience a form of presbyopia, as the conventional artificial lenses that are traditionally implanted during surgery, to replace the clouded natural lens, are monofocal lenses that cannot accommodate or change focus
|
