To put it simply and to just reassure you – you aren’t falling to bits just yet.
But if you find you’re having to hold books, magazines and other items you’re trying to read further away – you may be suffering from a condition called Presbyopia.
This is a medical condition that you can’t “catch” or get via genetics. Not tasking your vitamins or eating the wrong stuff won’t give it to you either.
Sadly, the cause of this condition is all part of the natural process of getting old. Although you might well believe that this has just suddenly developed and appeared, it’s actually much more likely that this has been creeping up on you for a while now.
What it is is a condition where the lens, the crystalline lens in your eye begins to lose it’s suppleness, it’s ability to flex as required and you start to find it harder and harder to actually focus on things. It’s when you catch yourself constantly squinting to try and focus better that you now something is up!
The good news is – it isn’t life threatening.
The even better news is, it’s easy to resolve by wearing glasses or contact lenses that are cut a certain way
These glasses or lenses come in different forms and names – the most common of which are the Bifocals.
Bifocals do as the name semi suggests and allow you to focus on Bi things (bi standing for 2 here!)
So, with bifocal glasses, the top part of the lens is normally set for viewing things in focus at distance where the lower part is more in tune for looking at things close up.
Funnily enough, there are also contact lenses cut in exactly the same way and after a little period getting use to them, your eyes automatically use the “right half” for reading or viewing.
For those who can’t quite get their head around the idea of a two tone lens sitting on their eye – there are also bifocal lenses that are cut in such a way as to combine the corrections needed by your eye to see far and near easily.
As you grow older you’ll find that your eyes continue to change and develop and you will need to refer back to your eye care professional to check and review your prescription.