What is Sudden Presbyopia?
Believe it or not, myopia, or nearsightedness, can be considered a partial blessing after all. This is because, as we age, presbyopia, the inability of the eye's crystalline lens to be as flexible as it once was, tends to set in, thus inhibiting the eye's ability to accommodate for normal close vision. The pre-existence of myopia mitigates this condition. Now, when you want to read a book, you won't have to "play trombone" as much as someone who's had normal vision throughout most of their life. You will still have trouble seeing things that are distant; however you shouldn't need reading glasses to compensate for naturally occurring presbyopia.
There is a drawback, however; when LASIK or any other refractive surgery is used to correct your vision for myopia, you then remove the advantage that myopia provided for near vision. Now you get to sit back and experience the full luxury of presbyopia, the natural worsening of the near vision brought on by aging. Your myopia was masking this feature all along.
Unfortunately, there is no proven way to cure presbyopia, though it can be treated with monovision LASIK or contact lenses.
In upcoming posts we'll look at the plusses and minuses of choosing monovision LASIK as a way of correcting presbyopia, and discuss in greater detail alternatives to LASIK and other refractive surgical procedures.
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