Reading glasses after forty: what the options actually are
Four ways to deal with near vision that has stopped adjusting itself.
After the age of forty, reading and screen work start to become difficult. The lens inside the eye has lost the elasticity that allowed it to change shape and pull near objects into focus. The condition is called presbyopia, and it happens to everyone.
There are four practical answers, and they differ less in effectiveness than in what they ask of you day to day.
Reading glasses
Narrow-framed glasses worn only for reading, screen work and other close tasks. They are not meant to be looked through at distance. Simple, and for many people entirely sufficient.
Progressive lenses
The upper part of the lens is set for distance and the lower part for near. These make sense if your distance vision also needs correction, since they remove the need for two separate pairs.
They have to be fitted accurately into the frame, with the optical centres in the right place. Poorly centred progressives are uncomfortable, and that discomfort is often blamed on the design rather than the fitting.
Multifocal contact lenses
For those who do not want to wear glasses at all. Of every hundred patients who try them, around seventy achieve distance and near vision they are satisfied with.
Trifocal intraocular lenses
Today one of the ways of restoring near vision and reducing the need for reading glasses is to remove the lens that has lost its elasticity and replace it with a trifocal lens that provides distance, intermediate and near focus.
Technically the procedure is much the same as a cataract operation. That also means it is done once, and the lens stays — which is why suitability is assessed carefully beforehand, taking in the cornea, the retina and the patient’s own visual demands.
Have your eyes assessed
Send your prescription history, previous eye reports and any corneal imaging for an individual assessment — in person in İstanbul or over video.
This article is for general information only and does not replace a medical examination or personalised medical advice.