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Presbyopia

Generality/Definition
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    Presbyopia is characterized as a progressive, age-related loss of accommodative amplitude. Progression of presbyopia begins early in life, possibly soon after ocular growth is complete. Complete loss of accommodation usually culminates by age 50 years. Presbyopia is the most prevalent of all ocular afflictions, ultimately affecting 100% of the population during the normal human life span.
    Source: Presbyopia (emedicine.com)
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    During middle age, usually beginning in the 40s, people experience blurred vision at near points, such as when reading, sewing or working at the computer. There's no getting around it this happens to everyone at some point in life, even those who have never had a vision problem before. Presbyopia is caused by an age-related process. This is different from astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness, which are related to the shape of the eyeball and caused by genetic factors, disease, or trauma. Presbyopia is generally believed to stem from a gradual loss of flexibility in the natural lens inside your eye.
    Source: Presbyopia (allaboutvision.com)

Symptoms

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    When people develop presbyopia, they find they need to hold books, magazines, newspapers, menus and other reading materials at arm's length in order to focus properly. When they perform near work, such as embroidery or handwriting, they may have headaches or eyestrain, or feel fatigued.
    Source: Presbyopia (allaboutvision.com)

Treatment

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    Compensatory options to alleviate presbyopia currently include bifocal reading glasses and/or contact lenses, monovision intraocular lenses (IOLs) and/or contact lenses, multifocal IOLs, monovision and anisometropic corneal refractive surgery procedures using radial keratotomy (RK), photorefractive keratomileusis (PRK), and laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). No universally accepted treatments or cures are currently available for presbyopia. IOLs, and anisometropic or astigmatic corneal refractive surgery are offered increasingly to presbyopes.
    - Multifocal vision to correct presbyopia :
    Multifocal IOLs or contact lenses are used for optical compensation of presbyopia. These lenses are either concentric or asymmetric design. Concentric lenses typically have stronger power near the center. Despite their unusual optical effects, multifocal contacts and multifocal IOLs often are well tolerated.
    - Monovision to correct presbyopia :
    Monovision (ie, correction of 1 eye for near vision) is used as an optical compensation for presbyopia. Monovision can be achieved with the use of a standard contact or IOL, as well as with anisometropic corneal refractive surgery (ie, RK, PRK, LASIK).
    Obvious advantages and disadvantages are conferred through the use of contact lenses, IOLs, and corneal refractive surgery for monovision and multifocal vision for presbyopes.
    Source: Presbyopia (emedicine.com)
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    Surgery :
    New surgical options to treat presbyopia are being researched and are already available in many countries. One example is Refractec Inc.'s conductive keratoplasty, or CK, treatment, which uses radio waves to create more curvature in the cornea for a higher plus prescription to improve near vision. The method was FDA-approved for the temporary reduction of presbyopia in April 2004.
    Source: Presbyopia (allaboutvision.com)

Statistics

Illustrations

Source: Presbyopia (uniteforsight.org)


The light entering the cornea and crystalline lens is bent so that the image would focus behind the retina, causing a distorted image to be transmitted to the retina and subsequently the brain. A convex lens can be used to correct the image.

Scientific articles: All recent articles for "Presbyopia"

Clinical trials for "Presbyopia":

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