How Vision Changes with Age

Vision in Our Teen Years

Smiling young girl with bright red hair

As a teen, our vision generally remains quite good. However, participating in competitive sports and having active lifestyles can be why some start to wear contact lenses. With this comes all the commensurate risks and expenses of contacts.

While it is imperative to determine that a person’s vision is developmentally-stable enough for corrective surgery, young people enjoy the greatest cost benefit of investing in life without glasses and contacts.


Vision in Our 20s & 30s

Man in his 30s sitting in modern living room

In our 20s and 30s, our vision is almost always stable enough to benefit from corrective eye surgery. Deciding at an early age to have a life without glasses and contacts is often a very economical decision, allowing us to benefit from a lifetime of clear vision.

This age group of patients can usually benefit from LASIK, PRK, or Phakic IOL.


Vision in Our 40s & 50s

Beautiful middle-aged Asian woman

As we start to get older, our eyes start to get drier. This makes contact lenses less comfortable to wear. Also during this time, our natural lens begins to get more rigid and less able to help focus our vision. The need for reading glasses becomes apparent, as things at a near distance start to become blurry.

This age group of patients can usually benefit from LASIK, PRK, or Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE).


Vision in Our 60s and Up

Handsome, happy, senior couple

As we continue to age, we start to notice changes in both the type of eyeglasses we need (bifocals, reading glasses, etc.) as well as the quality of our vision (even if we had LASIK early in life).

This is due to the natural hardening of the human lens, which is actually the early stages of cataract development. No one is immune to cataracts. It is a natural aging phenomenon. The human lens becomes more rigid with age and also yellows very gradually over time. These changes are slow to develop and often go unnoticed for years. The yellowing of the lens causes a reduction of light entering into the eye, leaving us feeling a need for more light…especially in a reading situation.

When the symptoms are significant enough from the progression of yellowing, our human lens can be replaced with a new intraocular lens (IOL). The cataract will never come back!

This age group of patients can usually benefit from LASIK, PRK, Refractive Lens Exchange, or Cataract Surgery.

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Our locations

1209 York Road,
Lutherville, MD, 21093
410-821-9490
Hours
Monday: 8:00am-5:00pm
Tuesday-Thursday: 8:00am-6:30pm
Friday: 8:00am-4:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am-1:30pm

301 Saint Paul Place
Professional Office Building
Suites 514 & 902
Baltimore, MD 21202
410-727-8380
Hours
Mon-Fri: 8am-4pm

Ridge Road Professional Center
7106 Ridge Road
Rosedale, MD 21237
(410) 866-2022
Hours
Monday-Wednesday: 8:00am-4:30pm
Thursday: 8:00am-5:00pm
Friday: 8:00am-4:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am-1:30pm

3401 Box Hill Corporate Center Drive
Suite 202
Abingdon, MD 21009
410-569-0707
Hours
Monday: 8am-4pm
Tuesday: 8am-6pm
Wednesday: 8am-5pm
Thursday: 8am-5pm
Friday: 8am-4pm
Saturday: Starting August 24th, we are open every other Saturday between 8:00 am-12:30pm


111 Mt Carmel Rd #600
Parkton, MD 21120
410-329-6700
Hours
Hours:
Monday 8:30am - 6:00pm
Tuesday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm

Optical Opens at 9:00am each day.

**Now open the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month effective July 10, 2024**

310 Main Street
Reisterstown, MD 21136
410-833-5515
Hours
Mon: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Tues: 8:00 am - 6:30 pm
Weds: Now open the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month effective 7/10/24
Thurs: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Fri: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sat (First and Third Saturday of the month): 8:00am - 1:00pm

21 Crossroads Drive
Suite 425
Owings Mills, MD 21117
443-738-4270
Hours
Tues & Thur: 8:00am-5:00pm
Effective 10/1/24, Dr. Nelson will be relocating to Lutherville every Tuesday.

901 Dulaney Valley Road
Suite 200
Towson, MD 21204
410-583-1000
Hours
Mon-Fri: 8am-4pm