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Why does eyesight change in our 40s?

Why does vision get worse with age?
Why does vision get worse with age? 03:18

MINNEAPOLIS — It seems to happen to a lot of us. At some point, we start to need reading glasses.

Despite the name, "cheaters" give Heidi Langenfeld a necessary advantage. Reading close-up got tricky as she closed in on middle age. She remembers when it started to happen.

"Sitting at a computer all day long, I am suddenly leaning forward and leaning in. At the end of the day, my head hurt, my eyes hurt and now everything at a distance is blurry," Langenfeld said.

She's found ways to adapt. She has about a dozen dollar-store glasses on hand and she gets eye care at Chu Vision Institute. 

"It seems like in our 40s, our eyes change," Langenfeld said.

At Chu Vision Institute, Dr. Jessica Heckman says eyesight does indeed change when people are in their 40s.

"It's called presbyopia. It happens to everybody whether you wear glasses or not," Heckman said.  

Like menopause, it's a middle-age change of life. 

"It's just kind of something that happens to all of us as we get older," Heckman said.

This was news to many, including Langenfeld.

"I didn't know that everyone would have that issue and that it happens no matter what," she said.

There's a flexible lens behind our eyes that contracts to help us focus — around 40-45, it stiffens.

"So when this lens is getting stiffer, the muscles that surrounds it can no longer change the shape of it to focus up close," Heckman said.

She says its simply uncontrollable.

"There's just no avoiding it, just like we have birthdays, our eye continues to age and it will happen to all of us," Heckman said.

But what can be contolled is your attitude. As far as treatments, there are, of course, "cheaters." There are also prescription eye drops that correct the issue for six hours at a time. 

If it takes your eyes longer to adjust back and forth from say reading to watching TV, try the 20/20/20 rule: For every 20 minutes you read, look 20 feet in the distance for 20 seconds. That will make your eyes adjust more easily.

Heckman says presbyopia progresses and usually levels off around 55 or 60.

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