Clearview Eye and Laser Medical Center

If you are in your 40s or 50s and have recently started needing reading glasses, but can see clearly in the distance, you are not farsighted. You have presbyopia. At first they seem to be the same, since they both allow clear vision in the distance but require glasses for close-up objects.

But they have different causes, which makes them totally different conditions from the perspective of an ophthalmologist. Farsightedness is caused by the shape of the cornea, and is an inborn condition, whereas presbyopia is caused by increasing rigidity in the lens associated with getting older. You can have 20/20 eyes but also have presbyopia.

The two conditions do have this in common: that a change in how the affected eye bends light rays will increase clarity of vision.

Our eyes bend incoming light twice: first by the cornea, then by the lens.

• LASIK changes the shape of the cornea, which corrects farsightedness.
• The shape of the lens cannot be changed. So to correct presbyopia, it must be removed altogether, and an artificial lens implanted. These are known as Intraocular Lenses (IOLs). We offer three IOLs: Crystalens, ReSTOR, and ReZoom.

• LASIK
• PRK
• IntraLase
• Presbyopia
• Implantable Contact Lenses
• Intacs
• Cataracts
• BOTOX®

Previous Posts

• Farsightedness
• The San Diego Fires and Providing Eye Care
• Lasers Used for Vision Correction
• The Safety of IntraLase
• Toss Those Reading Glasses
• Welcome