If you're in your early forties and have problems seeing things close up, you may think you have presbyopia. Although presbyopia, or age-related vision loss, occurs in middle-aged adults, farsightedness can affect your vision as well. Both conditions require care from an eye clinic or eye doctor. Discover which eye condition you may have with the information below.

What Are Farsightedness and Presbyopia?

Farsightedness and presbyopia are two types of refractive errors. Refractive errors occur when you have problems seeing things up close or far away. Farsightedness and presbyopia affect how well you view things close by or near you. 

Farsightedness can affect individuals of any age, while presbyopia normally occurs in people over 40. Although both conditions can trigger headaches and eyestrain in people, only farsightedness causes blurry vision. Farsightedness also develops when the tissues in your eyes shorten or change shape. Presbyopia develops when the lenses in your eyes become rigid and inflexible. Both conditions can gradually distort the images you see every day.

The only way to discover which refractive error you have is to visit an eye clinic or eye doctor for care.

How Do You Find Out About Your Vision?

An eye clinic or eye doctor can determine your condition with refractive error exams. The exams can determine the:

• length of your eyes' tissues
• shape of your eyes' tissues
• texture of your eyes' tissues

If the tissues in your eyes are short or misshapen, you may have farsightedness. The treatment for farsightedness may include corrective eyeglasses, bifocals, and contact lenses. Some eye clinics and doctors use eye surgery to correct severe farsightedness.

If the texture of your eyes' tissues is rigid, you may have presbyopia. The treatment for presbyopia may include prescription reading glasses and bifocal contact lenses. Age-related refractive errors can worsen with time. Reading glasses and bifocal contact lenses can help slow down the decline in your vision, or they can help correct it.

If you don't have any of the refractive errors above, an eye specialist will check your eyes for other conditions that change your vision. Conditions, such as astigmatism, can change the way you see things at any distance. An eye specialist may need to perform additional exams on your eyes to determine the cause of your vision problems. 

You can learn about farsightedness, presbyopia, and other possible causes of your eye problems by contacting an eye clinic or eye doctor for a vision exam today. Reach out to a clinic like Northwest Ophthalmology for more information.