Why Eyesight Changes as You Age  

Your eyes and eyesight change throughout time, just as your body does. It might be unsettling and disheartening to have near vision issues beyond the age of 40 if you have never required the use of eyeglasses in Portland, OR or contact lenses to fix your distant vision. Or, you may feel as if your ability to read the newspaper or see the phone digits was suddenly taken away. However, alterations in vision are a normal consequence of aging.

Common Age-Related Eyesight Changes

More Lighting is Needed

As you get older, you need more light to see than you once did. As you age, reading and other close-up jobs will be simpler if there are brighter lighting options in your workspace or near to your reading chair.

Challenges With Close-up Focus

Because your eye’s lens gets less flexible with time, printed things may become less clear. Your eyes now have a tougher time focusing on close things than they did when you were younger.

Troubles With Excess Glare

You might also notice more glare when driving at night from headlights or during the day from the sun reflecting off the pavement or windshields. Your eyes’ lenses change as you age, causing light to enter the eye less precisely-focused on the retina and more widely dispersed. This is what intensifies the glare that you’re experiencing as you get older.

Color Perception Changes

Your lens is typically clear, but it might begin to discolor slightly with age. This makes it more difficult to perceive and tell apart different color tones, especially when they are similar.

Why Eyesight Changes as You Age

Since you were a little kid, your eyes were subtly changing over time. Now, your eyes no longer have the focusing ability that they once had to enable you to see well for close-up work like reading. Presbyopia, a condition in which one loses the capacity to focus on close-up objects, results from the lens within the eye becoming less flexible.

Many individuals may begin to have issues with their ability to see well up close starting in their early to mid-40s. This struggle is particularly problematic while reading and using a computer. This is one of the most prevalent issues that individuals between the ages of 41 and 60 experience. Your eye doctor in Portland, OR can prescribe lenses that address the vision changes you incur as you age. Contact us now to book an appointment.