Are There Alternatives to Reading Glasses?

Nearly two billion people around the globe suffer from presbyopia, which is the inability to focus on things that are close to you, such as printed words. The reason for these large numbers is that presbyopia is an age-related condition that occurs when the lenses in your eyes become less elastic, which results in an inability to focus on objects close to you. 

Most cases of presbyopia are easily corrected with lenses, or readers, but the hassle of having these on hand can wear thin.

At Vision and Ortho-K Center. Dr. Curtis Frank and our team specialize in vision problems, including presbyopia. If you’re looking for a way to ditch the reading glasses, we explore some alternatives here.

Contact lenses

There are two ways that we can correct presbyopia with contact lenses:

Monovision lenses

These specialty contact lenses take a divide-and-conquer approach to your vision problem. Monovision lenses correct one of your eyes for distance and the other for seeing things up close. This approach to presbyopia requires some getting used to as you have to retrain your brain to this new way of seeing things.

Multifocal contacts

If you have other refractive issues, such as nearsightedness, multifocal contact lenses allow you to improve your vision at all distances thanks to differing levels of vision correction in the same contact lens.

Refractive surgery

If you’re not keen on the idea of lenses of any kind, you may want to explore a LASIK procedure that accomplishes the same objective as the monovision contact lenses. During this procedure, your surgeon corrects the refractive errors in one eye, but leaves the other one slightly nearsighted. Between the two eyes, you should be able to read again without the need for glasses.

Corneal inlays

Rounding out the treatment options for presbyopia are corneal inlays. During this procedure, the surgeon places a corneal implant into your eye(s) that increases your ability to focus on objects close to you. A corneal implant is an appropriate solution for those who’ve undergone LASIK to treat other vision issues or for those who have no other vision issues outside of presbyopia.

We’re here to help

If you’re tired of reading glasses, and you want to explore some of these alternatives, we’re here to help. Dr. Frank has extensive experience helping our patients find the right contact lenses for their unique vision goals, and he also offers consultations for refractive surgeries and inlay procedures.

To learn more about your treatment options for presbyopia, contact our office in Boston, Massachusetts, to make an appointment.