What Exactly Is Presbyopia?
“As we age, the lens inside the eye loses elasticity,” explains Dr. Jacquelyn Guida, O.D., an optometrist who practices on Long Island. “It loses the flexibility needed to focus from far to near, and this affects your ability to see up close. You need spectacle correction to help the lens focus.” Presbyopia affects people with good vision or myopia (nearsightedness), but is more problematic for those who are hyperopic (farsighted). Prior to becoming presbyopic, hyperopes can naturally accommodate by bringing things into focus at any distance. Suddenly, after 40 years of living without needing vision correction, they often lose both distance and near vision at the same time because their eyes can’t compensate any longer. Dr. Guida suggests that multifocal and bifocal contact lenses are the best option for nail technicians. For those who can’t tolerate contacts, progressive glasses (often called no-line bifocals) work well. “Single-vision reading glasses will allow a tech to focus close-
