If you find yourself approaching middle age and preparing for the challenges that come with getting older, but you aren't quite ready to resign yourself to reading glasses just yet, a new FDA-approved eye drop called Vuity that promises to treat blurry near vision is now available by prescription.
It is estimated that 25% of the world's population is affected by the condition known as presbyopia, which is one of the many unfortunate side effects of aging that typically starts affecting people in their 40s. The condition limits a person's ability to focus on nearby objects, such as small print, requiring them to move text away from their eyes until it's no longer blurry. It is caused by the eye losing elasticity in its lens that allows it to change focus, as well as a weakness of the muscles that control the lens, resulting in incoming light not being properly focused on the retina.
The use of temporary reading glasses to improve their close-up vision is a cost-effective alternative for most people who choose to treat presbyopia with LASIK surgery. The use of eye drops every morning is one way to mitigate the effects of presbyopia.
The active ingredient in Vuity is pilocarpine, which is often used to treat dry mouth because it stimulates the production of saliva, but it also causes the eye to reduce the size of the pupil's opening. This increases the eye's depth of field, resulting in more of what's seen being in focus, including close-up objects.
In human studies where a total of 750 people with presbyopia were either given Vuity or a placebo, those who used the eye drops gained the ability to read three or more lines of text on a reading chart. Vuity was less helpful for patients over the age of 65, who would need more traditional approaches to correct vision issues.
