No one can escape it: the older you get, the harder it is to see clearly up close. Why is that and what can you do about it?
If you can still see clearly, should you still have your eyes checked from a certain age?
It is wise to have your eyes checked every two years, as a change in your eye strength slowly creeps in. If there are certain eye diseases in the family, such a check-up is certainly sensible. An optician can easily measure the eye pressure. See an optometrist or ophthalmologist for a comprehensive ophthalmic examination.
Why do we find it more difficult to read fine print at reading distance as we get older?
If we want to see sharply close up, the lens of the eye convex. Because cell division within the lens does not stop from birth, there is an accumulation of cells in the lens. This makes the lens stiffer. This ensures that the muscle around the lens of the eye can no longer make the lens convex enough, so that we see less sharply up close. Usually people notice this when they are somewhere between 40 and 45 years old.
What types of reading glasses are there?
Many people buy half a pair of glasses for a few euros at the drugstore or department store. These ‘ready-to-use’ reading glasses always have the same strength in both lenses. Because your eyes can also have different deviations (for example, one eye +1.5 and the other eye +3), it is still wise to have an optician look at your eyes. He or she can then measure custom reading glasses that are exactly tailored to both your eyes.
What are the solutions if I already have glasses for distance?
If you already have glasses for distance and you have reading problems, you can switch to bifocals or multifocals. In the past there were only bifocal glasses with a half moon visible at the bottom, nowadays the distance part flows smoothly into the reading part: the so-called multifocal glasses.
However, using these glasses takes some getting used to because the image you see is distorted. Don’t feel like that? There are also improved progressive lenses. With these glasses, the glass supplier takes the distance strength and the reading strength into account: the position of the reading part is determined individually. With these glasses you can see clearly near, far and in between. This ensures optimal wearing comfort. In addition, you will get used to these glasses faster.
What are the solutions if I have contact lenses?
If you have contact lenses and you see less well up close, you are not only dependent on reading glasses. There are multifocal hard and soft contact lenses. Since the lens is on the eye, this is not always a successful solution. There are quite a few criteria that an eye and contact lens must meet in order to give a satisfactory result. An advantage is that multifocal contact lenses do not give any slight distortion or distortion. Nothing changes in the ‘dynamic’ vision.
Is laser treatment an alternative to reading glasses or multifocal glasses?
Both eyes with a negative and a positive correction can be lasered. Some clinics in the Netherlands can also laser the cornea of the eye multifocal. However, this treatment is controversial. There can be unpleasant side effects, such as reduced distant vision and disturbed night vision. If you have this procedure performed when the eye is not yet stable, it will be necessary to repeat it later.
