PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has approved eye drops that could come in handy the next time you lose your reading glasses.
As we age, just about all of us have trouble seeing words on a screen, so we turn to reading glasses. Dr. Alisha Fleming, an optometrist at Scheie Eye Institute at Penn Medicine, said presbyopia, as it’s called, is common as we age.
“There’s different structures inside of our eyes that change or mature, weakening the ability to accommodate or to see things up close clearly. That’s what presbyopia is — the need for reading glasses after the age of 40,” she explained.
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Readers have been the only option — until these eye drops, marketed as Vuity, were approved by the FDA.
Vuity, which is available by prescription only, helps treat age-related blurry near vision. It is used once a day and lasts about six hours.
“Patients read three lines better as compared to the patients who didn’t receive it,” Fleming said. “The other added element with that specific statement was that the distance wasn’t compromised; the distance vision wasn’t decreased.”
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The drops shrink the pupils, allowing the eye to refine near vision. Fleming said she’d be happy for her patients to give it a try.
“It’s definitely something that gets you out of having to wear reading glasses and can improve the vision,” she added. “It’s definitely an option to consider.”