Is It Hard Reading The Fine Print?

Do not delay treating presbyopia, say doctors

- Akshita Nanda

1. PEOPLE CANNOT ESCAPE PRESBYOPIA Presbyopia is inevitable as people grow older, eye specialists say. The eye has a lens that focuses incoming light rays onto the light-sensitive retinal tissue at the back of the organ. If the lens of the eye cannot focus light correctly, this causes a refractive error and vision may blur.

To view objects at different distances, the shape of the lens changes. Lens thickness is controlled by ciliary muscles.

Dr Chelvin Sng, director and senior consultant ophthalmologist of private practice Chelvin Sng Eye Centre, says that in young eyes, the lens is flexible and the muscles controlling lens thickness are strong. The lens can thus easily change shape.

"Around the age of 40, the lens gets stiffer and cannot change its shape easily. The muscle controlling the lens thickness also becomes weaker. Hence, light

A few years ago, Ms Jennifer Toh began finding it hard to read consumer labels when shopping.

She had to take off the spectacles she had worn since age 18 for myopia, and bring bottles of shampoo and items of food close to her face to make out the text. Another hack was to take photos of the labels, then zoom in on the images to read the list of ingredients.

"There were many embarrassing moments," says the 53-year-old communications professional, who works in the education sector. "Product labels are very small and the lighting wasn't helpful either."

Ms Toh has presbyopia, an age-related condition that reduces the eye's ability to focus at nearer distances. She now wears either multifocal contact lenses or progressive glasses to help her see better.