One of the sure signs you’ve “graduated” to middle-age status is that you notice more trouble with reading or other near visual activities. The ability to focus up close starts to noticeably decline around age 40-45 and is the result of age-related changes to the lenses of your eyes – the medical term is “presbyopia”. The treatments for presbyopia have been limited to bifocals or progressive glasses, multi-focal contact lenses and some surgical options. Now, a presbyopia-correcting eye drop is on the horizon.
There are 1.8 billion people around the world who have presbyopia. The rapidly increasing use of digital media and communication means that more of our attention is being directed towards electronic screens than ever before:
- Adults spend over 11 hours per day on electronic devices
- Texting is preferred over talking (by most generations including baby boomers)
- We check our smart phones an average of 96 times per day
Along with hand-held electronic devices, people with presbyopia report medicine bottle print, documents and menus in dim lighting among the daily tasks that cause them frequent vision problems.
Several eye drops designed to improve close-up vision are nearing final-phase approval. How do they work?
- Some are designed to constrict the pupil, creating a pinhole effect which improves near vision
- Others are designed to improve the flexibility of the lenses in your eyes – the lenses loss of flexibility is one of the reasons why presbyopia happens in the first place
- Still others use a combination of the above methods
While the majority of these specialized eye drops are not a permanent solution to presbyopia, they will provide a compelling new treatment option for a common age-related vision disorder.
Have questions? Talk to one of our eye doctors in Calgary or Cochrane eye clinic
Reference: https://modernod.com/articles/2020-sept/coming-soon-presbyopia-correcting-eye-drops
