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Presbyopia is a progressive condition typically requiring individuals over the age of 40 to use reading glasses. The natural lens inside the eye gradually loses its flexibility and its ability to focus on near objects.

Causes
When light passes through the cornea and lens of the eye, it strikes the retina which relays the image through the optic nerve to the brain. However, this condition will be changed when ageing process involves. The age-related changes take place in the muscle fibers surrounding the lens and also within the proteins in the lens, making the lens harder and less elastic. Therefore, the eye has increasing difficulty focusing up close.

Symptoms
People with presbyopia often have difficulty in seeing objects up close and in reading fine print. These activities will make them have headaches or feel fatigued.

Treatment
To help the eye focus, reading glasses or bifocals are needed. Often between forty and sixty years of age, new glasses are required about every two years to overcome visual blur caused by increased hardening of the lens.

Today’s modern surgical techniques e.g. PRELEX or accommodative IOL allows surgeons to remove the natural lens from the eye using laser or ultrasonic vibrations. The natural lens is replaced by the multifocal or accommodative intraocular lens. No sutures are required because the small incision is self-sealing.