Empower your vision

Weakening eyesight has been a frustrating complaint and an alarming concern of those in their 40s. Increasingly, as those in their 40s are spending more time indoors and exercising their vision mostly in short and intermediate distances, and are craving for seamless acuity in various everyday tasks, at multiple close distances.

They want to send a text while catching up their favourite TV show on a tablet, they are checking breaking news alerts on their mobile phones while working on their desktop. With their eyes expected to be versatile and multi-tasking for scanning and skimming across mobile phone screens and desktops simultaneously, weakening of vision is not a surprise.

The changing times have greener opportunities for all, devoid of any age bias, which puts the 40 club in a competitive spot. Therefore, it is imperative that they perform consistently. Clearer visual zones for enhanced performance while one works with multiple digital devices simultaneously is, therefore, the need of the hour.

Weakening near-vision affects all of us sooner or later. Condition of failing eyesight with age, or presbyopia, commonly known as reading difficulty affects 2.1 billion people worldwide.

Symptoms

The signs of presbyopia can start with the small annoyances in everyday life. You may have to hold your book at arm’s length to focus or zoom to read on your smartphone. Perhaps, you’re having trouble reading the fine prints on product labels. As the day goes by, reading up close may require you to squint or even to take off your specs if you wear them.

Do you have to hold things at arm’s length to focus? Do you have to increase the font size on your smartphone to see clearly? Do you have difficulty reading the menu in dimly-lit restaurants? Do you have to ask people for help in reading the small print? It goes without saying that such questions will have 75% of those reading the article ringing bells in their head.

Even those with nearsightedness will experience their near vision as blurred if presbyopia is around the corner. Weakening of eyes at your 40s is just nature taking its tolls, but you necessarily don’t have to pay the price always. It becomes more prevalent around the age of 40 when the eye’s soft, flexible crystalline lens begins to harden.

Over time, it becomes more and more difficult for the eye to focus light onto the retina and see clearly when reading, for example. Because presbyopia is linked to ageing, it also has an emotional tint to it. It is, therefore, necessary that the defect is rectified at the earliest by consulting the nearest optician, and find proper lenses to have proper vision and perform efficiently at any age.

Conventionally, progressive lenses are considered as effective solutions for presbyopia. With the changing times, the demand to be versatile at your work and excel in your field is increasing. And the eyes play a big role in that.

Those using traditional progressive lenses are forced to make vertical and horizontal head movements to find the right angle through which one can see clearly. Wider research and technological innovation has been happening across these lines for the development of an improved range of lenses that addresses this issue.

Researchers have come out with groundbreaking innovations to that address the concern adequately. Lenses that offer deeper and sharper vision of space within the arm’s length — within near and intermediate distances are easily accessible to the consumer. The arm’s length-vision covers areas located between the near and intermediate vision zones. This is defined as the area of the lens where power varies between 60-85%. These areas correspond to 40 cm to 70 cm of working distance, which is usually the space where most of the current digital tasks are carried out.

The newly advanced lenses are a result of studies done to understand the evolving needs of presbiopic patients worldwide.

The tests are affirmative that the new generation lenses are a true improvement over the previous ones, especially in the scenario of capturing near and immediate visuals without compromising distant vision.

So, the generations X, who are going that extra mile to live an active and versatile life, can stay sharp and focused in their day to day life with the reinvention of near vision and stay empowered.

(The writer is Group Chief Operating Officer, Essilor India)