The joke about needing longer arms when you're older is common enough.
A decline in our eyes' ability to focus on nearby objects is the cause of so many people getting reading glasses.
For the first time, there could be another solution.
The FDA approved the first eye drops that treat presbyopia in October, developed by Allergan.
Millions of people could be able to ditch their reading glasses at some point now that these drops are available on prescription.
The eye muscles lose power over time as the lens of the eye gets harder and less elastic. It becomes more difficult to focus on small things when they are close up.
"Many Americans deal with presbyopia, which typically begins around age 40, by relying on reading glasses or resorting to work-arounds like zooming in on their digital devices to see up close," says Selina McGee, from the American Academy of Optometry.
Eye drops can help with this. Vuity is a medication that shrinks the eye's pupils and is part of the class of drugs called Miotics. In some diagnostic procedures, these medications are used to reduce pressure in the eye.
As pilocarpine shrinks the eye, it is better able to focus, improve vision in the near range, and not have to worry about distance vision.
Pilocarpine has its risks. The drug is on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, so we have a good idea of its safety profile, but it should not be used if the person has inflammation of the eye.
Because eye drops affect a person's low-light vision, there are also warnings about driving at night or doing anything else that could be dangerous in poor lighting.
Two phase 3 clinical trials involving 750 participants were used to test Vuity compared to a placebo drop, with the treatment showing a statistically significant improvement in vision in volunteers.
There were no serious side effects reported, although 14.9% of people reported mild headaches, and up to 5% of people reported other side effects, such as eye redness, blurred vision, eye pain, visual impairment, eye irritation and an increased production of tears.
"This is the first to be approved, but there are many kinds of this medicine in trials, but this is the only one that's been approved," said Faktorovich. "It is quite remarkable."
It's likely that older people won't get as much help from the eye drops, and a prescription doesn't work in people aged between 40 and 55 with mild or moderate presbyopia.
This is just the beginning. Vuity has gotten the first FDA approval, but there are many other presbyopia eye drops in the works.
Some of them, like MicroLine by Eyenovia, also use pilocarpine, but others are going for different active ingredients altogether, or combine it with something else, to try for smaller doses, fewer side effects, and better overall safety profiles.
It seems like it's just a matter of time until more drugs follow Vuity onto the market, so watch this space with glasses on your nose.
