Why Does Reading Become Difficult as you Get Older?

The human lens is able to focus at distance and then at near when you are younger because it is flexible and can change its shape. This happens automatically due to the action of thousands of little fibres called zonules that contract and relax to pull on the lens. As you age the substance of the lens becomes stiff and rigid and the lens gradually loses its ability to change shape and hence focus for near. This change, called presbyopia, is the beginning of a series of changes to the substance of the lens that leads to cataract formation later in life.

Many patients hate wearing reading glasses or bifocals, or hate that they keep having to switch between glasses for different tasks. They often don’t like the fact that reading glasses make them look older than they feel! We are more active, youthful, and affluent than generations before, and have a strong desire to remain as active as possible. Unfortunately, we live in an increasingly near sighted world, where smart phones, computers and Kindles make near visual tasks increasingly common.