Forty is the new 20 (or so they say). And whether we’re marching into that decade with heads held high or being dragged there kicking and screaming, 40 is a milestone worth celebrating — even if we can’t get out of bed for a full 48 hours afterward.
Although we women d’un certain âge have left behind most of the insecurities of youth, we still love the idea of looking young and vibrant. We want to feel that way too, even as the tell-tale signs of Getting Older creep into the periphery of our daily lives.
In the spirit of not being surprised by the not-so-dynamic duo of Mother Nature and Father Time, we spoke to the professionals at Charlotte Eye Ear Nose and Throat Associates about what we have to look forward to once we hit our 40th birthday.
Here are a few common issues you can expect to encounter once you turn the big four-oh:
Reading Glasses
Just like our joints, the lens of our eye loses flexibility as we age.
When we’re younger, the lenses of our eyes can change focus by getting thicker for close-up objects and thinner for more distant objects.
But typically around age 40, the lens begins to lose its ability to change shape so easily. According to the experts at CEENTA, this is known as presbyopia. You may notice an uptick in blurred vision when looking at close-up objects, such as books, or you may find it harder to adjust focus from near to longer-distance vision.
That’s part of the reason it’s common for people to need reading glasses as they get older.
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, you’ll need a full eye exam to determine what strength of lenses will help improve your vision. For example, if you’re nearsighted already, removing your glasses might make it easier to read up-close. But if not, you might need glasses or bifocals for close-up viewing.
And don’t believe the myth that glasses can further deteriorate your vision.
According to the experts at CEENTA, our ability to see up-close gradually reduces over time between the ages of 40 and 65 whether we wear glasses or not. Some people believe their glasses are hurting their eyes because their vision is weakening due to age at the same time they start wearing them.
Depending on the strength of your lens prescription, LASIK may be an option for glasses-free vision improvement.
“LASIK is a cornea-shaping procedure designed to enhance distance vision to enable people to see 20/20,” says Dr. Lee Wiley, a CEENTA LASIK surgeon in Steele Creek and Pineville. “When we are young, we can rely on the lens inside of our eye to work with the LASIK-treated cornea to provide good near vision on command because the young lens has the ability to flex and zoom in on images at near. As we have our 40th birthday and beyond the natural lens inside of our eye begins to lose its ‘zoom’ as it hardens with time. This means that with or without LASIK we often become reliant on reading glasses at about age 45.”
LASIK isn’t a one-size-fits-all treatment, and there are many factors to figuring out which type of LASIK would work best for you.
“Naturally, we all have a dominant and a non-dominant eye, just like being right- or left-handed,” Dr. Wiley says. “In patients older than 40 who are beginning to lose their near vision we offer ‘blended’ vision correction where we use LASIK to make the dominant eye see clearly at distance and we treat the non-dominant eye to retain some near vision.”
Dr. Wiley says over time patients often become comfortable with this and don’t even notice the difference, and he often simulates the experience in the clinic with contact lenses to see if the patient likes it before moving forward with the surgery.
“Some patients over 40 simply desire clear distance vision in both eyes and are happy to just wear reading glasses for near work,” Dr. Wiley says. “These options are simply lifestyle choices and we help the patient determine what strategy best fits their lifestyle prior to performing LASIK.”
The bottom line: when it comes to age-related vision issues, you have options. But only an eye doctor can determine if you’re a good candidate for LASIK, so schedule a consultation if you think it would be right for you.
Adult-Onset Allergies
An estimated 50 million people in America suffer from allergies, which means if you’re muddling through springtime with watery eyes, a drippy nose and a constant state of brain fog, you’re not alone.
What’s more, Charlotte is often ranked among the worst cities in the country for seasonal allergy sufferers.
Adult-onset allergies are, sadly, fairly common. So if the pollen never bothered you before and suddenly you’re a sniffling mess, allergies may be the culprit.
One of the first steps to treating your allergies is figuring out what you’re allergic to in the first place. CEENTA offers comprehensive allergy testing that will test your reaction to more than 20 allergens that could be causing your symptoms, including ragweed, mold, and pet dandruff.
Once you’ve narrowed down which pesky triggers are making you miserable, you can start exploring which allergy treatments will help make life easier.
CEENTA’s allergy specialists may recommend immunotherapy in the form of shots, sublingual (under-the-tongue) drops or tablets. These regular treatments help your body build up an immunity to the allergen, increasing your tolerance to it and — in some cases — even curing it.
A bit of good news: many people actually age out of their allergies as they get older, since their immune systems weaken over time and stop responding to the allergen. One myth that’s easy to debunk: allergies don’t follow strict seven-year cycles.
“Your allergy symptoms may ebb and flow over time, but don’t listen to that friend of yours who thinks his only have one year left,” says Dr. Hunter A. Hoover, otolaryngologist who specializes in medical and surgical treatment of pediatric and adult ENT disorders.
But when it comes to seasonal allergy mitigation, the sooner the better. Dr. Hoover compares it to a bucket filling up with water.
“You can tolerate a certain amount of things you’re allergic to,” he says. “There’s room in the bucket before you develop symptoms, but once it fills up and the water’s overflowing it’s really hard to stop the process at the point.”
Snoring
It might be embarrassing for us and unbearable for whoever’s sleeping next to us, but snoring is a fact of life as we age.
Snoring happens when your breathing is obstructed while you’re asleep, causing the walls of the throat to vibrate. It can be caused by obstructed nasal airways, bulky throat tissue, poor muscle tone in the throat and tongue, and more. Some studies estimate that between 30 and 50 percent of adults snore.
And it’s more common as we get older because our tongue and the muscles that surround our airways will likely become weaker.
Besides interfering with your (and your partner’s) sleep, snoring might be indicative of a more serious health concern like sleep apnea, when a person’s breathing is interrupted while sleeping.
There are lots of ways to mitigate snoring, including mouth and throat exercises that are also known as myofunctional therapy.
Another, more permanent treatment is elevoplasty, a minimally-invasive procedure for patients who snore without sleep apnea. It lifts the soft palate, reducing the chance for airway obstruction and the production of snoring sounds.
Whatever your reason for sawing logs, don’t suffer in not-so-silence at home. Speak to one of CEENTA’s sleep specialists who can perform an evaluation to see which snoring treatments are right for you (or your spouse). Find out more and schedule an appointment here.
Wrinkles and Facial Thinning
Once we hit 40, the collagen and elastin in our skin has begun breaking down. This means we’re starting to see crow’s feet, “elevens” between the eyes and all sorts of cute-sounding euphemisms for wrinkles that are, in fact, not cute at all.
“SPF is the cornerstone of great looks over 30, not to mention great skin health,” said Dr. Catherine Cuite, an oculoplastic specialist at CEENTA’s SouthPark office.
She said by age 40, many patients choose to get ‘toxins’ (like Botox) and facial fillers to help plump parts of the face that have started to thin out — often in the lip and eye area.
Fillers are injected into the skin to help fill in wrinkles and add volume, while toxins are injected into the facial muscles, causing them to relax, reducing wrinkles temporarily.
Dr. Cuite said people in their 40s often ask for blepharoplasty — surgery to repair droopy eyelids. As we get older, the muscle that holds up our eyelids gets weaker as the skin and tissue around our eyes stretches. The resulting droopy eyelids can be frustrating for aesthetic reasons like applying makeup, and they can even get in the way of our vision.
Even if you choose not to go under the knife or needle, Dr. Cuite recommends using medical-grade skincare at home.
“At SouthPark Aesthetics we sell three lines of skincare and a higher, moderate and most affordable range, so there is truly a choice for everyone,” she says.
Keep feeling fabulous after 40
Staying on top of your eye, ear, nose and throat health becomes increasingly important as we age, but it doesn’t have to feel like a chore. With easy online scheduling options, a variety of minimally invasive treatment options and preventative health advice, CEENTA can help make your health one of the easiest things to check off your to-do list.
They say you’re only as young as you feel, and with help from the pros at CEENTA, you can feel as close to a 25 as possible (but with the benefit of the wisdom and experience that only we *cough* 39-year-olds can understand).
Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates, P.A. (CEENTA) has nearly 140 providers in almost 20 locations bringing specialty care to the community. CEENTA provides comprehensive pediatric and adult eye, ear, nose and throat care, and highly specialized care, too.
These services include but are not limited to: audiology, allergy treatment, cataract surgery, cochlear implants, cornea diseases, diabetic eye care, glaucoma treatment, head and neck cancer, neuro-ophthalmology, oculoplastics, optical and contact lenses, pediatric airway care, sleep medicine, thyroid treatment, and voice and swallowing care.
To schedule an appointment with any of CEENTA’s board-certified physicians, please call 704-295-3000.
