We often get asked “Why is it exactly that I can’t read the small print anymore? My arms are too short! The print is getting too small!”
There is a structure inside our eyes called the lens, it is like a clear marble, and sits in behind the iris. It has muscles attached to it that change its shape. The lens is flatter when we look at something far away, and rounder when we focus something close up.
This process is called accommodation. The lens is very malleable during our childhood and young adult years. But by our early to mid-40s the lens is becoming more rigid, making it harder and harder for the muscles to change its shape. Making it more and more difficult to read the small print, or pull out a sliver, or thread a needle. It is natural and normal and sadly no exercises will help slow down this process.
Thankfully there are types of lenses for glasses, called therapeutic lenses, that help us adjust to this frustrating time. They are designed with some magnification at the bottom of these lenses, helping us to focus on near objects, without compromising our distance vision. They look like regular glasses, without any lines on them. I call them our “training wheels” to a real progressive or bifocal lens. Come talk to us if you would like more information. The joys of vision in our 40s!
