Man squinting to view phone screen

Presbyopia

Most of us will experience some effects of presbyopia as we age. It’s a normal part of the ageing process and presbyopic symptoms develop gradually as we get older. Most people start to notice changes to their close vision from around the age of 40.

What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is the gradual loss of your eyes’ ability to focus on objects up‑close. It’s a natural part of ageing which usually becomes noticeable in your early to mid‑40s and continues to worsen until around age 65. If you experience presbyopia, your optician will check your vision to assess whether you’re ’presbyopic’, just as they would if you were short‑sighted or ‘myopic’.

As a common condition, it’s nothing to worry about, and it’s easy to work presbyopia around your lifestyle. Most people with presbyopia wear reading glasses, multifocals, multifocal contact lenses, or a combination of both, to correct their vision — depending on which they prefer.

What are the symptoms of presbyopia?

Have you started to notice that text is getting harder to read? Do you have trouble seeing clearly when using your phone or laptop, or when doing close‑up work? You may be experiencing the first signs of presbyopia. It’s perfectly normal, and most of us start to experience it around the age of 40.

Common symptoms include:

  • Having difficulty reading small print

  • Needing to hold reading material at an arm’s distance to focus properly on it

  • Experiencing blurry vision at normal reading distance (approx. 35cm)

  • Having eye strain or headaches after reading or doing close work

  • Needing brighter lighting when reading or doing close work

  • Overall problems seeing and focusing on objects that are close to you

  • Squinting to bring objects into focus

  • Blurry vision up close

Women using a slit lamp

Eye health and conditions

View a range of eye conditions and vision problems alongside helpful information about their symptoms & treatment.

Glasses, contact lenses and treatments

Glasses dispense fitting

What causes presbyopia?

To form an image, your eye relies on the cornea and the lens to focus light onto the retina at the back of the eye. When you look at something at a distance, the circular muscle around the cornea relaxes. When you look at something nearby, the muscle constricts, allowing the relatively elastic lens to curve and change its focusing power.

In younger eyes, the lens is usually softer and therefore easier to curve and flex. But, as we grow older, the lens can harden. Presbyopia is caused by this hardening of the lens of your eye, which is a natural part of the ageing process. As your lens becomes less flexible, it becomes more difficult to change shape in order to focus on close‑up objects, which in turn affects your vision. Even if you’ve never needed glasses, you might find that you need to begin wearing glasses later in life for close‑up tasks such as reading, looking at your phone, or even driving.

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