It’s an all too-familiar picture: a group of middle-aged people huddled in a restaurant struggling to read the menu. Some feeling their arms are too short; others squinting, moving their arms in and out in what’s been coined the “trombone syndrome.” Still others, rifling through purses or pockets for reading glasses. What’s going on? They’ve hit their mid-40s or early 50s. That’s when the eyes start to lose the ability to see clearly up close. Commonly known as middle-aged sight, the medical term for the condition is called presbyopia, from the Greek word for “aging eye,” or “old eye.”
It’s an all too-familiar picture: a group of middle-aged people huddled in a restaurant struggling to read the menu. Some feeling their arms are too short; others squinting, moving their arms in and out in what’s been coined the “trombone syndrome.” Still others, rifling through purses or pockets for reading glasses. What’s going on? They’ve hit their mid-40s or early 50s. That’s when the eyes start to lose the ability to see clearly up close. Commonly known as middle-aged sight, the medical term for the condition is called presbyopia, from the Greek word for “aging eye,” or “old eye.” |