{"id":923,"date":"2025-08-28T13:36:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/08\/27\/who-needs-reading-glasses\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T00:46:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T21:46:16","slug":"who-needs-reading-glasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/08\/28\/who-needs-reading-glasses\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Needs Reading Glasses?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost everyone over the age of 40 knows the feeling\u2014near vision begins to blur, you hold your book or phone screen farther from your eyes, and at some point reading glasses are unavoidable. This phenomenon is called \u201cpresbyopia,\u201d and it\u2019s a natural part of the eye\u2019s aging process [1]. Presbyopia occurs when the eye\u2019s lens loses elasticity over the years, making it harder to change shape and focus on nearby objects. Distance vision is not affected, but reading or work that requires looking at objects up close becomes challenging. Until now, the main solutions were reading glasses or contact lenses, but the FDA has recently approved a new and intriguing treatment. The treatment, called VIZZ,<\/strong> makes it possible to cope with the problem without constant dependence on glasses, providing temporary relief for up to ten hours after using the drops [2].<\/p>\n

The drops contain the active ingredient aceclidine. This synthetic substance causes muscles to contract by activating muscarinic receptors\u2014receptors that naturally respond to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine [3]. In other words, these drops mimic acetylcholine\u2019s action and cause the iris\u2019s sphincter muscle to contract. As a result, the pupil constricts, creating a \u201cpinhole\u201d effect that increases depth of field and thereby improves the ability to focus up close without significantly changing the lens\u2019s own accommodative capacity.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the surprising part: the inspiration for this mechanism came from nature\u2014and, in fact, from a toxin. Certain poisonous mushrooms, such as the famous fly agaric (Amanita muscaria<\/em>), produce a compound called muscarine. Muscarine acts on those very same receptors, which is why its effects on the human body are so powerful and even dangerous: symptoms can include sweating, nausea, and cardiac arrhythmia. Science, however, has deciphered the toxin\u2019s mechanism of action and developed a similar synthetic molecule with controlled, safe, and effective therapeutic effects. Aceclidine, first developed in the 1950s for other medical uses such as glaucoma, was adapted to treat presbyopia and is now the basis for VIZZ.<\/p>\n

Thus, a dangerous natural poison has been transformed\u2014drawing on biology\u2014into a treatment that helps people read a book or a newspaper without holding it at arm\u2019s length. This is a fascinating example of modern medicine\u2019s ability to harness mechanisms from nature, even the most hazardous ones, and turn them into tools that improve quality of life.<\/p>\n

Hebrew editing: Smadar Raban
\nEnglish editing: Elee Shimshoni<\/p>\n

\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] On various treatments for presbyopia<\/a><\/p>\n

[2] On the new approval of vision-correcting drops<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] On muscarinic receptors<\/a><\/p>\n

[4] On venoms and toxins converted into medicines<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost everyone over the age of 40 knows the feeling\u2014near vision begins to blur, you hold your book or phone screen farther from your eyes, and at some point reading glasses are unavoidable. This phenomenon is called \u201cpresbyopia,\u201d and it\u2019s a natural part of the eye\u2019s aging process [1]. Presbyopia occurs when the eye\u2019s lens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-medicine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWho Needs Reading Glasses? - Little, Big Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/08\/28\/who-needs-reading-glasses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Needs Reading Glasses? - Little, Big Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Almost everyone over the age of 40 knows the feeling\u2014near vision begins to blur, you hold your book or phone screen farther from your eyes, and at some point reading glasses are unavoidable. 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