Age 40 is a magic number for eyes.  Some time in your early 40's is when everybody starts to experience difficulties focusing up close and reading becomes a challenge.  Unfortunately, there is no escaping this change and eventually everybody will need reading glasses.  What happens is the lens that sits inside the eye right behind the iris gets thicker and less malleable over time.  This is the part of the eye which needs to change shape in order to adjust the focus of the eye between a distance and near target.  There are muscles that control the shape of the lens, and thus the focus of the eye.  While those muscles are just as strong as ever, they are now being asked to preform a more challenging task.  Think of a weight lifter lifting a heavier and heavier weight until it eventually becomes impossible.  Without wearing reading glasses, your eyes are working harder than they need to, and that can cause the muscles inside your eyes to fatigue resulting in head aches, eye strain, and blur at the end of the day.  These are sure signs that it is time for your first reading prescription.  

This can come in the form of a glass specifically for reading that you take off to see far away, or if you are already a glasses wearer, it would mean moving into a progressive lens that has a near reading power at the bottom of the lens.  Think of a blended bifocal without the line.

Many people ask if wearing reading glasses will make your eyes get weaker.  This is common misconception.  Wearing the reading glasses will simply make your near vision more comfortable.  Unfortunately, you will become increasingly dependent on correction for reading over time no matter what, and this is often mis-attributed to the use of reading glasses.

Another question that I get asked frequently is if contact lenses or LASIK can correct this issue.  There are multifocal contact lenses that work very well.  Drs. Fellers and Burns specialize in this type of contact lens fitting.  As for LASIK, at this time, laser eye surgery can only correct each eye for one focal distance.  Some patients choose to to have a monovision LASIK correction where one eye is corrected for distance vision and the other for reading.  While this sounds troubling to many, it actually works remarkably well and should be considered as an option.

Generally, your reading prescription will continue increase slowly until about age 60 when it plateaus.  Read further to learn more about what to expect your eyes to do next.