Contents:
- Medical Video: What are those floaty things in your eye? - Michael Mauser
- Get to know presbyopia, old eye disorders in old age
- How do old eyes affect a person's vision?
- Symptoms of presbyopia
- What's the difference between old eyes and farsighted eyes?
- Risk factors for presbyopia
- What if I or my parents experience old eye conditions?
Medical Video: What are those floaty things in your eye? - Michael Mauser
As an organ that is very important for activity, the human eye is an organ that can withstand damage for a long time. The structure of the eye organ in healthy people, especially at a young age, is smooth and flexible. This is because the eyepiece must be able to adjust its shape to clearly see objects in certain distances and lighting. If the ability is lost, then an eye disorder appears known as presbyopia or old eye.
Get to know presbyopia, old eye disorders in old age
Presbyopia is an eye disorder characterized by a decrease in the ability of the eye lens to focus on seeing an object at close visibility. Or the eye can still focus on seeing something close, but it takes longer than normal eyes.
This disorder can occur by itself as a normal aging process and can be experienced by anyone. The term presbyopia itself comes from Greek which means "old eye". Generally a person begins to feel this disorder at the age of 40 years.
How do old eyes affect a person's vision?
The lens of the human eye is located in the inner eye which is precisely behind the rainbow membrane (the part of the eye that has color). The eye lens plays a role in regulating the amount of light that enters the eyes of the retina, which is found in the deepest eye.
To carry out its functions, the eyepiece is flexible. That means the lens will change shape when adjusting the light. However, as you get older, the eyepiece can become stiffer and more difficult to change shape.
As a result, the eye takes longer to capture the focus on the object in front of him. This is because the light does not hit the retina of the eye properly, especially when viewing objects at close distances.
Symptoms of presbyopia
Symptoms of presbyopia generally appear at the age of 40 years which is characterized by a decrease in the ability to read and see at close range gradually. Common symptoms that can be experienced by presbyopia are:
- Easily experience tired eyes when reading.
- Headache when trying to focus on objects at close range.
- Easily tired of doing work that requires close vision.
- Difficulty reading small letters.
- Require further viewing distance when reading.
- Requires more lighting to see at close range.
- Have to squint to see short distances.
What's the difference between old eyes and farsighted eyes?
Although presbyopia has the same symptoms as farsightedness, such as impaired vision or blurred vision at close range, both are different conditions.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eye shape is shorter than the normal eye size or the cornea is too flat. This defect causes light not to fall on the retina properly, just like presbyopia. Nearsightedness can occur when a person is born, but presbyopia can only occur with age.
Risk factors for presbyopia
Age is the most influential risk factor for the occurrence of presbyopia. However, the symptoms of presbyopia experienced by a person vary. Some people have more serious presbyopia conditions at the age above 40 years.
In addition, presbyopia can occur faster or before 40 years of age. This is related to certain health conditions. Some risk factors that can cause the appearance of presbyopia earlier in a person include:
- Having anemia.
- Having heart disease.
- Has diabetes.
- Experiencing farsightedness.
- Disorders of the nervous system (brain and spinal cord) as in multiple sclerosis.
- Experience myasthenia gravis or nerve and muscle disorders.
- Having eye disease, injury, or trauma to the eye.
- Impaired blood flow to the heart.
Some of the following substances and drugs can affect the eye's focus on objects at close range, increasing the risk of old eyes. Among them are:
- Alcohol
- Sedative
- Antidepressants
- Antihistamines (allergy or flu drugs)
- Antipsychotics
- Antispasmodics
- Diuretic drug
In addition to the above risk factors, the eyes are also more experienced by women, people who have experienced eye surgery, and people who have unhealthy eating patterns.
What if I or my parents experience old eye conditions?
Eye lenses that have experienced this disorder cannot return to normal. So, the old eye cannot be cured. However, there are several options for improving and sharpening vision. See the tips below.
- Using reading glasses. Especially if you have never had a vision problem before. Reading glasses can be obtained at drug stores and glasses with a variety of lens sizes, according to the needs of each patient.
- Use a special lens. Whether in the form of contact lenses or glasses, the use of special lenses is needed to adjust your ability to see with the focus of different lenses.
- Conductive keratoplasty (CK). The act of eye surgery is done by using radio frequency energy to change the corneal curvature. Although vision can improve immediately, later the results can disappear again over time in some people.
- Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK).Laser-assisted eye surgery that aims to adjust the vision and visibility of the eye.
- Replacement of the eyepiece.Performed by replacing natural eye lenses with synthetic eyepiece implants intraocular.
