As we mature, the crystalline lens of the eye loses its elasticity, thus reducing your ability to focus on near objects. You will notice this as your “arms get too short.” This change is called presbyopia. This means you need a different correction for your close work than you need for your distance vision.
Presbyopia occurs as the eye’s intra-ocular, crystalline lens loses its ability to focus light. The loss of focus results an inability to see at near, making reading glasses or bifocals necessary. A person can be both farsighted and presbyopic or nearsighted and presbyopic. Presbyopia typically begins in our early forties. The older we get the more difficult it is for our eyes to focus on objects that are near to us. The effects of presbyopia level off in our mid to late sixties.