PresbyMAX® Eye Laser in Vienna – your Reading Glasses Solution

The treatment is ideal for individuals aged approximately 40 to 45, as soon as reading glasses are regularly needed in everyday life – whether reading a newspaper (“Die Presse” or “Kronen Zeitung”), on a smartphone, or working on a computer. The decisive factor is not age alone, but the personal desire for independence from reading glasses.

No. Thanks to highly effective anesthetic eye drops, the procedure itself is completely pain-free. You may feel slight pressure, but no pain. After the treatment, a slight foreign body sensation or watery eyes may occur for a few hours, which is normal and subsides quickly.

Most of our patients from the greater Vienna area can return to their workplace after just 1-2 days. Screen work may still be a bit strenuous during the first few days. Regular breaks and the use of moisturizing eye drops help significantly.

Light activities like hiking on Kahlenberg are often possible after just 3-4 days. You should wait about 2 weeks for swimming (due to risk of infection) and intensive sports. Skiing is recommended again after approximately 3 weeks, initially with well-fitting sunglasses or ski goggles to protect against wind and sun.

The reshaping of the cornea performed by the laser is permanent. However, the natural aging of your eye continues to progress. Should you develop a cataract decades later, which is a normal aging process, it can be operated on without problems. The previous laser treatment does not pose an obstacle.

Laser treatment for presbyopia is considered an elective procedure (cosmetic procedure) in Austria. Therefore, the costs are generally not covered by social security (e.g., ÖGK). However, many private health insurance companies (supplementary insurance) partially or fully cover refractive surgery. We recommend clarifying this with your insurance in advance; we would be happy to provide you with a detailed cost estimate.

Safety is extremely high. Our SCHWIND AMARIS 1050RS laser features an intelligent 7D eye-tracking system. This registers the position of your eye 1050 times per second and compensates for even the slightest involuntary movement in real-time. Should you blink too much or move your head, the laser stops immediately and resumes at the exact same spot as soon as the eye is back in position.

Our goal is for you to manage without reading glasses in everyday life. However, it is realistic that for very fine work, extremely small print, or in poor lighting conditions (e.g., reading a menu in a dimly lit restaurant), you might optionally find a very weak reading aid comfortable.

In the first weeks and months after the procedure, there may be increased sensitivity to glare or the perception of halos around light sources at night. This is a normal side effect of the healing process, as the brain adapts to the new, multifocal vision. For the vast majority of patients, these effects completely subside.

Safety is our absolute priority. Should your corneal thickness be insufficient for a PresbyMAX® treatment, we will honestly advise against it. In such cases, we will comprehensively advise you on excellent alternatives, such as a refractive lens exchange with a modern multifocal or EDOF lens.

After careful consideration, we chose SCHWIND’s German high-tech platform because, in our opinion, it offers the highest precision, safety (7D eye-tracking), and the best customization options. This allows us to tailor the treatment precisely to the unique parameters of each individual eye to achieve the best possible results.

Dry eyes are an important factor. In our comprehensive preliminary examination, we analyze your tear film very precisely. For a mildly dry eye, treatment can often be performed after appropriate pre-treatment. For a severely pronounced dry eye syndrome, a lens exchange may be the better alternative. We will advise you on this with absolute transparency.

At first glance, it may seem so. However, consider it a long-term investment in your quality of life and freedom. Calculate the costs for high-quality varifocal and reading glasses that you would buy over the next 10-15 years. Ultimately, laser treatment is often the more economical and, above all, more comfortable solution.

Please plan for approximately 2 hours at our clinic on the day of treatment. The procedure itself only takes a few minutes. We strongly recommend that you arrange for someone to pick you up or take a taxi after the treatment, as you are not allowed to drive yourself immediately afterwards. You will receive protective sunglasses from us and can then rest comfortably at home.

Yes. Your satisfaction is our priority. In the rare event that a slight residual refractive error remains after complete healing that bothers you, a touch-up procedure (enhancement) is possible without problems in most cases. This is part of our quality promise to you.