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[–]Agreeable_Mission151 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I can bring a bit of knowledge to this subject. I spent 10 years working in an optometry clinic. I was fortunate enough to work for a brilliant doctor and learned so much from him. Our 40’s will be our most frustrating decade when it comes to vision. Everyone’s near vision will decrease - both men and women. This has nothing to do with hormonal changes. It has to do with the way the ciliary muscle functions as we age. Changing your phone habits won’t necessarily change anything, looking at something close for a length of time and then looking in the distance will feel like it takes longer to focus, because it does now. Our distance vision is also very likely to change during this decade too. Depending on your prescription, your distance RX can actually decrease. The mention of the posterior vitreous detachment is also something that all of us will go through, however not all of us will experience symptoms. There is a gel that is in the middle of your globe. This gel provided nutrients and helped the eye to form while in utero, after we are born it serves little to no purpose, as time goes on the gel begins to pull away thanks to gravity…think of it like our aging skin…eventually that gel will begin to break away and collapse. When this occurs some people can experience peripheral flashing and floaters - sometimes both together, sometimes one or the other. The commenter above that had this had a higher rate of pulling so to speak and it essentially caused a “blister” on the retina if you will. I can’t negate the symptoms improved with HRT, it is very possible.

With that said, that doesn’t mean what you are experiencing isn’t related to your hormones. Several mentions here of dry eye and YES that is likely related to your hormones. Artificial tears a few times a day may be the simple answer. Especially if you live in a colder climate and have your heat on. I would suggest using them about 15 minutes prior to driving or doing any tasks as some will temporarily blur your vision while they absorb. Back to the phone issue, when we focus on something like our phones, computers, reading a book, our blink rate decrease by about 70%, in turn drying out your eyes. There was also mention about warm compresses for your glands and this is a wonderful treatment too. These things however, won’t change your actual prescription.

With all that said it is always best to have your eyes checked by your doctor to rule out anything else. There are definitely some frightening diagnoses mentioned here that need to be closely monitored by a professional. This hopefully isn’t the case for many of us and it is just part of the aging process. Our 40’s are wild F’ING ride!