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Presbyopia is the normal process of aging. The natural lens in the human eye continues to add layers like rings on a tree or the layers of an onion as we grow older. This causes the lens to become larger. As the lens grows, it enlarges into the area where the focusing muscle needs to flex when it works. We become unable to focus things up close because of this loss of room around the lens. This usually occurs between the ages of 40 and 50.
Everyone experiences presbyopia, some sooner, some later. Because of this normal process, nearsighted people begin to wear bifocals in their forties, and those who never needed glasses before may require reading glasses. The one advantage to mild myopia is the ability to remove your glasses after age 40 and continue to read (your myopia effectively counteracts your presbyopia).
After having the excimer laser procedure to correct for better distance vision without glasses in each eye, you will lose this ability. You will need reading glasses for small print, like every other normally sighted person between the ages of 40 to 50. The excimer laser has no effect on your focusing muscles. Patients who are experiencing the effects of presbyopia cannot be helped directly by the excimer laser, however, there are new surgical techniques for this condition.
In March 1999, Dr. Soloway was the only doctor granted an exemption by the FDA and the Institutional Review Board at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary to perform this surgery in the United States during clinical trials. Ask us at the time of your evaluation if you are a candidate for this method of correcting presbyopia, or click on surgical reversal of presbyopia for more information.
In November 2003, the FDA approved the first (and only) implantable lens that can restore far and near focus after cataract surgery. The eyeonics AT-45 Crystalens is able to perform this feat by using microhinges to allow it to be moved forward and back slightly in the eye by the eye muscles that are used for focusing
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