Patients over the age of 40 may require the use of reading glasses after LASIK surgery. People in this age group have usually been diagnosed with a condition called presbyopia which can be found on a routine eye examination. Presbyopia refers to a progressive difficulty with seeing near objects due to an age-related stiffening of the natural lens inside of the human eye. The most common signs and symptoms of presbyopia include difficulty with reading texts on your phone or difficulty with performing your work on a computer.
The need for an eyeglass prescription can be minimized if you are suffering from presbyopia. The first option to address this problem is performing a blended vision LASIK procedure where one of your eyes is intended to be stronger with far-distance targets while the other one is stronger for near-distance targets. For most candidates, this may result in a more broad range of vision and a reduction in reading glasses use. The second option is a procedure called Refractive Lens Exchange (hyperlink to Refractive Lens Exchange Page). This form of vision correction surgery uses cutting-edge lens technology to correct refractive errors such as astigmatism, far-sightedness, and even presbyopia. Please visit our Refractive Lens Exchange FAQ for more information.