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    Children's Health

    Correcting Presbyopia: Contact Lenses

    Presbyopia is the loss of close-up focusing of the eye. It's not a disease. It's a normal aging process. When you are younger, the lens in your eye changes shape to focus light directly on the back of your eye (the retina). But as you get older, the lens hardens and can't change its shape as easily.

    Contact lenses can correct presbyopia. They focus the image back onto the retina. This way, you can see an object clearly.

    Optometrist watching man inserting contact lens in eye.

    Contact lenses

    There are two kinds of contact lenses that correct presbyopia. If you wear contact lenses, you can also use reading glasses with your regular distance vision contacts.

    Monovision contact lenses. These correct one eye for close vision and one eye for far vision. This means one contact lens helps you read and see things that are near. The other contact lens helps you see things that are at a distance.

    Multifocal contact lenses. These have several zones or rings at different powers. Some switch between near and far vision. Others slowly change from near to far vision. You don't notice a change from one power to the next. Talk with your eye care provider about which kind of multifocal lens is best for you.

    Online Medical Reviewer: Chris Haupert MD
    Online Medical Reviewer: Tara Novick BSN MSN
    Online Medical Reviewer: Whitney Seltman MD
    Date Last Reviewed: 12/1/2022
    © 2000-2024 The StayWell Company, LLC. All rights reserved. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. Always follow your healthcare professional's instructions.
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    Southern New Mexico
    Surgery Center

    2301 Indian Wells Rd. Suite B
    Alamogordo, NM 88310
    www.snmsc.org

    Phone: 575.437.0890
    Fax: 575.437.0905
    Email: info@snmsc.org

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