Why does our eyesight deteriorate as we age?

For the same reasons our entire body does: We are just not "designed" to live much past age 40! From an evolutionary/DNA perspective, once we have passed our genes on to the next generation, we are superfluous. Of course, I for one am very glad we do usually live much longer and would like to think I am contributing in other ways beyond simple reproduction.

Usually our distance visual acuity is not going to change much past the early 20s. The first significant change is the loss of near vision due to the hardening of the natural lens of the eye -called Presbyopia. We also become more vulnerable to other types of ocular degeneration that can affect visual functioning, e.g. macular degeneration, dry eye, glaucoma, etc. With the miraculous advantages of modern medicine and ocular surgery, we can live and function at an optical level undreamed of even one generation ago.

_Written by J. Trevor Woodhams, M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Woodhams Eye Clinic