Once, reading glasses were the sign of wisdom in older age, worn by headmasters, doctors and the judiciary to assist when studying and to peer over for added gravitas.
But today’s fifty and sixtysomethings, faced with ageing in a youth-obsessed age, are increasingly consigning reading glasses to their cases and opting for lens implants.
According to the latest research, optical advances and the vanity of the baby-boomer generation has resulted in a 40 per cent global increase in lens implants for presbyopia — the age-related deterioration of sight most commonly associated with reading vision — last year alone. Audits from clinics around Britain suggest a doubling or even tripling of the number of procedures in the past few years. |