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Getting Older And Having Problems Seeing? 2 Things That Can Cause This

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As you get older, you can have many health problems, including problems with your vision. If you are having trouble seeing correctly, you should see your eye doctor immediately for an eye examination. Two things they may find wrong with you are listed below so you will know what symptoms to watch out for.

Presbyopia

If you are having a hard time focusing on things, you may have presbyopia. As you get older, the proteins in the lenses inside of your eyes cause your lenses to harden and to lose elasticity. Once this happens, your lenses cannot focus on things as well even if you are looking at them up close. Your eyes also lose flexibility, which also contributes to this problem.

If you constantly hold things at arm's length, such as a book, menu, or newspaper, in order to focus on the words, then you likely have presbyopia. If you have to spend time with near work, such as handwriting, you may have headaches, feel fatigued, and have eye strain.

The only thing you can do for presbyopia is to see your optometrist. You will be prescribed bifocal eyeglasses, or the doctor may suggest progressive lenses. Bifocal lenses have two separate points of focus. For example, the top part of the lens allows you to see well at a distance, while the bottom half of the lens allows you to see well up close. Progressive lenses are much like bifocal lenses. The main difference is there is no visible line on the lenses and you will have a much gradual visual transition when you go from looking down to looking up or vice versa.

Dry Eye

If your eyes do not produce enough tears, you will have dry eye. Your eyes may develop some tears, just not enough of them to keep your eyes moist. Having dry eyes can make it difficult to do things like reading or looking at a computer screen for long periods.

Tears are important because they help keep your eyes healthy and your vision clear. This is because the tears wash the dust and other debris from the surface of your eyes and keep them moist. Tears also protect your eyes from infections.

If you have dry eye you can have many symptoms, such as your eyes burning or stinging, having a discharge from your eyes, or feeling like something is in your eye even though there is not. Your eyes may become red and painful, and you will see very few tears if you cry.

If your doctor determines that you have dry eye, they can treat this problem in different ways. They may prescribe eye drops for you. These drops are much different than the eye drops you can purchase over the counter because this is an anti-inflammatory medication, which not only helps keep your eyes moist but also can help decrease damage you may have on your corneas. If this does not work for you, the eye doctor may suggest surgery.

Your eye doctor can go over these two problems with you in much more detail.


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