As a young child the lens is very elastic and changes shape relatively easy. Over time the lens loses this flexability and a careful observer will note that year after year their closest possible focus distance moves further and further away from their eyes. The average person reads at about 16 inches from their eyes and mathmatically if you calculate how long it takes the average person to lose focus ability at 16 inches it is approximately 40 years. Again, this is very normal and expected.

If you have myopia (nearsighted) the need for reading lenses/ bifocals may be delayed or avoided by simply reading without glasses. It depends on the degree of myopia and the convience of removing your glasses for reading. Conversly, if you have hyperopia (farsighted) the need for reading lenses/ bifocals can occur more rapidly if your hyperopia is undercorrected.

The corrections for presbyopia include reading glasses, multifocal glasses and contact lenses (multifocal or monovision). There are no current surgical procedures to correct Presbyopia. The typical considerations in correcting Presbyopia is to establish a correct balance between your distance prescription and your reading prescription (which are different). If you look through reading glasses the distance will be blurred. If you look through distance glasses the reading will be blurred. It is for this reason the majority of people use multifocal design glasses which incorporate the distance and the reading prescription into one set of lenses. These are available in a huge variety of styles from the obvious executive (entire bottom is for reading) to the invisible progressive designs.