You can’t escape presbyopia, even if you’ve never had a vision problem before. Even people who are nearsighted will notice that their near vision blurs when they wear their usual eyeglasses or contact lenses to correct distance vision. It’s often a significant and emotional event because it’s a sign of aging that’s impossible to ignore and difficult to hide.

When you become presbyopic, you either have to hold your smartphone and other objects and reading material (books, magazines, menus, labels, etc.) farther from your eyes to see them more clearly. Unfortunately, when you move things farther from your eyes they get smaller in size, so this is only a temporary and partially successful solution to presbyopia

Also, even if you can still see pretty well up close, presbyopia can cause headaches, eye strain and visual fatigue that makes reading and other near vision tasks less comfortable and more tiring.

Presbyopia is caused by age-related processes:

• changes occur within the proteins in the natural lens, making the lens harder and less elastic over time and with less elasticity, the eye has a harder time focusing up close.
• An age-related weakening of the muscle fibers surrounding the lens. Other, less popular theories exist as well.

Eyeglasses with progressive lenses are the most popular solution for presbyopia for most people over age 40. These line-free multifocal lenses restore clear near vision and provide excellent vision at all distances, regardless of what refractive errors you may have in addition to presbyopia.
Another option is eyeglasses with bifocal lenses. But bifocals are much less popular these days because they provide a more limited range of vision for many presbyopes. Also, most people don’t want to show their age by wearing eyeglasses that have a visible bifocal line.
Also, it’s common for people with presbyopia to notice they are becoming more sensitive to light and glare due to aging changes in their eyes. Photochromic lenses, which darken automatically in sunlight, are a good choice for this reason. They are available in all lens designs, including progressive lenses and bifocals.
Reading glasses are another choice. Unlike bifocals and progressive lenses, which most people wear all day, reading glasses are worn only when needed to see close objects and small print more clearly.

If you wear contact lenses, your eye doctor can prescribe reading glasses that you wear while your contacts are in. You may purchase readers over-the-counter at a retail store, or you can get higher-quality versions prescribed by your eye doctor.

Regardless which type of eyeglasses you choose to correct presbyopia, definitely consider lenses that include anti-reflective coating. This layer eliminates reflections that can be distracting and cause eye strain. It also helps reduce glare and increase visual clarity for night driving.
Because the human lens continues to change as you grow older, your presbyopic prescription will need to be increased over time as well. You can expect your eye care practitioner to prescribe a stronger correction for near work as you need it.

Presbyopes also have the option to use multifocal contact lenses, available in gas permeable or soft lens materials. available in many designs and different technologies

 Another type of contact lens correction for presbyopia is monovision, in which one eye wears a distance prescription, and the other wears a prescription for near vision. The brain learns to favor one eye or the other for different tasks. But while some people are delighted with this solution, others complain of reduced visual acuity and some loss of depth perception with monovision.

Don’t want to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses for presbyopia? A number of surgical options to treat presbyopia are available as well.

One presbyopia correction procedure that’s gaining popularity is implantation of a corneal inlay. Typically implanted in the cornea of the eye that’s not your dominant eye, a corneal inlay increases depth of focus of the treated eye and reduces the need for reading glasses without significantly affecting the quality of your distance vision.

Other options for surgical correction of presbyopia include:

NearVision CK. This conductive keratoplasty procedure uses radio frequency waves to alter the shape of the cornea of one eye to improve near vision.

Monovision LASIK. This modified LASIK procedure creates the same effect as monovision with contact lenses, but without the need to wear contacts.

PresbyLASIK. This multifocal LASIK procedure is similar to wearing multifocal contact lenses, can be done using different Lasik machines and techniques.

Refractive lens exchange. Also called RLE, refractive lens exchange is virtually the same as cataract surgery, but the natural lens that is being replaced has not yet become clouded by a cataract. The surgeon can select a multifocal IOL or an accommodating IOL to restore near vision.