10/05/2022
Presbyopia
Presbyopia is a typical eye condition. It is a gradual loss of the eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects due to age-caused loss of the crystalline lenses’ elasticity and deterioration of the ciliary muscles, which control the thickness of the lenses. It is expected that global population increase and the aging of the population will entail a further rise in the population with presbyopia.
Although the lenses’ accommodation ability begins to gradually decrease in one’s teens, few people experience inconveniences in their everyday lives until their 30s. People find themselves suffering from presbyopia once their eyes become unable to focus on nearby objects around their 40s. Most people become unable to see any nearby objects without glasses around their 70s. Presbyopia is a familiar eye problem to many people, and they understand they will suffer from it someday. However, few people have a clear idea about the inconveniences of the condition and how it will affect their own lives, until the condition progresses.
Furthermore, even after experiencing early symptoms of presbyopia, most people continue to lead their daily lives as usual while enduring inconveniences, thinking “It’s natural to have presbyopia at my age,” or “There’s no other way than to carry glasses with me all the time, although it’s inconvenient.” In recent years, it is noteworthy that presbyopia-like symptoms caused by the decline in the eye’s focusing ability have often occurred even in people in their teens to 30s, due to long-term use of IT devices such as smartphones. To help people maintain their visual function for as long as possible, it is essential to heighten their anticipation of suffering from presbyopia and their awareness of the importance of eye care as early as possible.
