Presbyopia: first symptoms after 40

What is happening in your eye

Presbyopia, often called tired eyes, is the gradual loss of the ability to focus on near objects. It appears naturally with age, usually between 40 and 45, and affects everyone regardless of their previous prescription.

The cause is the crystalline lens, the eye's natural lens, which gradually loses flexibility. As a result, near focus requires more and more effort and eventually becomes insufficient without optical help.

The most common first symptoms

If you recognise several of these signs, you are most likely facing early presbyopia. It is not a disease and does not appear overnight: it evolves gradually over the years.

• You hold your phone, the newspaper or the restaurant menu further away to read them.
• You need more light to make out small print.
• Focusing up close is harder at the end of the day, or you notice visual fatigue.
• Switching focus between near and far becomes slower.
• You take off your distance glasses (if you wear them) to read up close.

What options exist

There are several optical solutions for presbyopia, none of them universally better than the others. Multifocal contact lenses stand out when you want freedom of movement, play sport or simply do not want to depend on glasses all the time. Their fitting requires a professional process and a period of neuroadaptation.

• Reading glasses: simple, but they only work for one distance.
• Progressive glasses: cover far, intermediate and near in a single frame.
• Multifocal contact lenses: the same correction without depending on a frame.
• Combinations: many people alternate glasses and contact lenses depending on the activity.

When to request an assessment in Barcelona

There is no need to wait until small print becomes unreadable. As soon as the first symptoms interfere with your daily life, a complete contactological assessment can confirm the diagnosis, rule out other causes of visual fatigue and study which option suits you best.

In Barcelona, centres such as Looptica and Òptica CODE carry out this kind of assessment and can support you if you decide to try multifocal contact lenses.