Could it be that the glasses meant to help you see better actually put you in danger of a potentially fatal or disabling accident? It could, according to findings that have linked bifocals and trifocals with an increased likelihood of falls in older adults.

What’s The Problem?

It’s not hard to see the root of the danger. The common vision problem called presbyopia, caused by a hardening of the lens of the eye, typically arises at around age 40. Presbyopia makes it more difficult to see images close at hand, which is why middle-aged people have difficulty reading without glasses. If this is your only vision problem, the solution is easy — to read, you wear glasses that magnify. But for those with additional vision problems that also need correction, the usual solution is multifocal glasses or contact lenses (bifocals, trifocals or progressive lenses) — and this is where people, quite literally, run into trouble.

A growing body of research, much of it originating at the Falls and Balance Research Group at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney, Australia, has demonstrated that when older folks wear multifocal lenses while walking and also performing a secondary task — like reading a sign — they tend to “contact more obstacles” (as in, trip or bump into something). The glasses focus differently for near and far, which means that the wearer’s ability to see obstacles near his/her feet gets compromised. The fact that falls are the leading cause of death from injury among older adults in the US makes this especially worrisome.

A Simple Solution

Stephen Lord, PhD, laboratory director at the Falls and Balance Research Group, University of New South Wales in Australia, told me that there’s an easy solution to this problem. People who wear multifocal glasses or contact lenses should also keep with them a pair of single-focal glasses — with a prescription for distance vision only — to wear when walking outside their homes. Easy enough and worth doing, I think — far better to spend the money on an additional pair of glasses than on a ride in an ambulance.