Presbyopia
You may have noticed that most people over the age of 45 require reading glasses to see things clearly up-close. Even people who wore no glasses throughout their life need to start wearing glasses for their up-close vision as they age. The reason this occurs is because of physiological changes in the human lens. A young and healthy lens changes shape with an amazing focusing mechanism that allows a young person to clearly see images in the distance and as close as two to three inches from the front of their eye. Unfortunately, aging causes lens changes such that the focusing mechanism loses its ability to focus on near objects. This loss of near vision with age is known as presbyopia. For most people the treatment is simple and consists of adding a bifocal to current glasses, or in the case of people who do not wear glasses, getting a pair of reading glasses. Cataract surgery with a presbyopia-correcting IOL is a new option for improving vision and restoring the range of clear vision in patients with a cataract.
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