Cindi Anderson on thu 22 apr 04
A little background on eyes...
Usually vision is stable between about age 20 and 40. If you need vision
correction because your eyeball is misshaped, then you will know by 20. If
you need new glasses or your eyes get worse between age 20 and 40, then
typically it is because you are not using them right. In my 20's and 30's I
did a lot of computer work and my eyes have a naturay tendency to over focus
(some people's eyes naturally point inward and overfocus, and some are the
opposite). So they would get "stuck" in near view and I couldn't see far the
rest of the day. This is called "focus flexibility" and is just as
important as actual vision, but many optomistrists don't measure that. It
amazes me how for years every time I went to the optomotrist they just gave
me stronger and stronger glasses. It's like saying your leg is weak, so
they give you crutches... Anyway, I stumbled into to a behavioral
opthalmologist, who put me in vison therapy to learn how to "relax" those
eye muscles via biofeedback and exercises. This allowed me to go backwards
a couple diopters in prescriptions to where I was when I was 20. In fact I
got rid of almost all my nearsightedness. Unfortunately I have astimatism
which is a misshaped eye and couldn't do anything about that. (Although not
wearing sunglasses and squinting a lot can make it worse particularly in
those who are susceptible.)
After about age 40, it's a totally different problem. Your muscles lose
their ability to focus up close. There is nothing I know of that can be
done about that. This is now starting to happen to me (bummer.)
So the question becomes what to do if you want laser correction. If you are
almost 40 and go to have Lasix, they tell you this is likely to be a problem
(the deterioration of close vision after 40). They can correct your far
vision, but you will probably still need glasses for up close as you get
older. Some people just make a decision whether they would rather wear
glasses for seeing up close, or for far away. The alternative is the
monovision, where one eye does close and one eye does far. But this still
doesn't stop the degradation in your near vision as you age, since that is a
loss of ability of the eye muscles ot focus close, as opposed to something
to do with the shape of the eye. So you still may need glasses for close
vision as you age (or to redo the lasix if you have a thick enough cornea.)
By the way, when they put new lenses in people with cataracts, they usually
do the monovision if you have cataracts in both eyes. My brother in law
recently had this done due to diabetic cataracts. He said his brain
adjusted almost immediately. When I went to do Lasix I was about 35, and
was already getting cataracts. My eye doctor recommended waiting a few
years because they are working on lens replacements that won't be fixed
focus, they would work like normal eyes and be able to focus close and far.
He predicted that by the time my cataracts are worse I would be able to get
those. Meanwhile I wear glasses....
Cindi
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