Optometrist’s Recommendations

Your near vision is not as good as it used to be?

At the age of 40, many people start to have problems with them no longer being able to see up close as clearly as they used to. The condition called presbyopia is caused by the fact that the elasticity of our lenses decreases with age, and the muscles that change the shape of the lenses become tired and weaker.

Sounds familiar?

• You aren’t able to read fine or small letters as clearly as before.
• Your “hands are not long enough” because you want to push the text further away to read it.
• Dim lighting isn’t enough – you need more light than previously.
• Your eyes get tired more easily and tend to turn red.
• You experience headaches.
• In the event of such complaints, be sure to consult an ophthalmologist or optometrist, who will examine your eyes and prescribe reading glasses if necessary.

Do you often work on a computer?

Many people who work on a computer for a long time every day have a variety of complaints: tiredness and redness of the eyes, dryness and itching, tearing, headaches, difficulty focusing the eyes when reading for a long time, or changing focus from a near target to a far target after long periods of close-up work.

These symptoms indicate that your eyes are tired and need rest.

Before consulting an ophthalmologist or optometrist, try the following :

• Adjust your workplace (ergonomics, lighting, humidity, etc.).
• Take breaks when working on the computer. Look out the window into the distance or into a far corner of the room.
• Blink more often. If don’t blink frequently, the eyes tend to dry out and get tired quickly, causing headaches, itching, and blurred vision. For such complaints, you may want to try eye drops (so-called artificial tears). For detailed instructions, contact your ophthalmologist or pharmacist.
• Do eye exercises to help prevent eye strain. You can find a selection of exercises here.

If your main concern is having trouble focusing with your eyes (both near and far), it may be due to tense eye muscles, also known as amethropia, or vision impairment, which may be eased by eye exercises and low-strength glasses. The cause is determined by an ophthalmologist or optometrist.

If you have these complaints and you have short-sightedness (using minus glasses), you may want to try glasses with a lower minus strength or low transition (such as Hoya Nulux Active, Essilor Anti-Fatigue, etc.) to work on your computer. You can clearly see into the distance when looking straight ahead with these glasses.

If you have been assigned reading glasses, you may notice that they are too strong to look at your computer. This is because reading glasses are designed to help you when the object is in the 33–40 cm range, but your computer screen is often 50–70 cm away. In this case, you might want to purchase so-called computer glasses (such as Hoya Addpower, Essilor InterView, etc.) with a lower part with reading strength and a weaker upper part so you can look directly into your computer.

What to know about sunglasses

• When buying sunglasses, keep in mind that glasses that do not have the necessary UV protection can damage your eyes instead of protecting them.
• Polaroid glasses (sunglasses that absorb horizontal reflections) purchased from an optician are slightly more expensive, but of higher quality.
• It is also possible to order photochromic sunglasses that change the tone in direct sunlight – both with plastic and mineral glass.
• Optical sunglasses can also be ordered from opticians – both regular colored, polarized, and photochromic spectacle lenses.