Correcting Presbyopia: Glasses

Glasses can correct presbyopia. They focus the image back onto the retina. This way, you can see an object clearly. There are several kinds of glasses you can choose from.

Glasses

Presbyopia is most often corrected by wearing glasses. If you have no other vision problems, you may only need reading glasses. If you are also nearsighted or farsighted, your eye doctor can prescribe bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lenses.

Bifocals correct near and far vision ("bi"means two). A small half-circle in the lower part of the lens magnifies objects that are close. In some cases, the whole lower half of the lens magnifies these objects.

Trifocals correct near, middle, and far vision ("tri" means three). The lower part of the lens has two magnifying powers. One magnifies near objects. The other magnifies objects that are about an arm's length away.

Progressive lenses change magnifying power from near to middle to far vision gradually. You do not notice a change from one power to the next. And you do not see any lines on the lenses. But the sides of the lenses will be blurry.