"David R. Birch" wrote:

Ted Bennett wrote:
Are you old enough to have presbyopia? Meaning, now that you're
far sighted, do you need reading glasses for close work like I do
now? I went from having several expensive progressive lens sets
of glasses to cheap "readers" of various powers scattered about
the house. But outside, I can see deer much farther that I could
with glasses. Yum!

David

Lasik, if done properly, does not result in far sightedness. It
should make the eye(s) emmetropic, that is, no refractive error.

Prior to LASIK, I was myopic, unable to see clearly beyond about 20
inches. After, I can see clearly at long distance, but need
correction for close work within about 30 inches. How is this
different from being farsighted?

You are presbyopic, not farsighted. LASIK removes myopia or hyperopia.

A farsighted eye must adjust its focus to keep the best focussed image
on the retina, for all distances. Presbyopia gradually reduces the
amplitude of that accommodation, so it first affects close work but
eventually reduces distance vision. The eye essentially becomes a
fixed-focus instrument by the mid sixties. The loss of accommodation
begins in the teen years and becomes apparent in the forties, but
earlier in a far sighted eye as it has to work harder to focus at all
distances.

Presbyopia begins at age 16 or so, but does not become an
inconvenience for most people until the mid-forties.

I had no signs of presbyopia until I was 40. Over a period of about 6
months, I went from a single correction lens to needing bifocals, then
progressive lens.

Typical. Your LASIK procedure, by eliminating your myopia, meant that
you then had to supply more accommodation for close work, making your
presbyopia a larger issue.


Ted

--
Ted Bennett