PUBLICATION EXCLUSIVE: Medical and surgical innovations expected to transform treatment of presbyopia

Presbyopia is the most common refractive error in the world, impacting about 40% of the population. All of us who are in the presbyopic age group appreciate the fact that it represents a significant functional disability.Most of us living in the so-called advanced countries manage our presbyopia with glasses or, in a minority of cases, a contact lens. It should be remembered that in many developing countries spectacles of any kind, including simple inexpensive reading glasses, are simply not available. While on a cataract surgery mission trip with my now-deceased good friend John Pearce of England, he made the astute observation that presbyopia-correcting IOLs were not just for the affluent but ideal for emerging countries where readers are not available or unaffordable. An inexpensive widely available bifocal IOL would be a welcome addition for the cataract surgeon treating those with no access to glasses after cataract surgery.