Jeremy Murphree

One eye drop a day could allow people to ditch glasses forever. The FDA has approved VIZZ, the first eye drop of its kind to literally fix near vision. After about age 40, the lens inside the eye stiffens, and reading a menu or a phone gets harder. It's called presbyopia, and it affects almost everyone eventually. In 2025 the FDA approved VIZZ, a once-a-day eye drop made by LENZ Therapeutics that uses a drug called aceclidine. It works by shrinking the pupil to under 2 millimeters, creating a pinhole effect that brings close objects into focus without blurring distance vision. In clinical trials with hundreds of adults, near vision improved within 30 minutes and the effect lasted up to 10 hours. Earlier drops like Vuity mainly worked by squeezing the muscle that focuses the eye, which could cause brow aches and dimmer distance vision. VIZZ acts mostly on the pupil instead, and the company reported no serious treatment-related side effects across more than 30,000 days of use. That said, the drops don't cure presbyopia, since the effect wears off each day, and they need a prescription. Also, in trials about one in five users had eye irritation, 16% noticed dimmer vision and 13% had headaches, mostly mild and brief. Even so, for millions of people tired of hunting for their readers, it's a real new option worth asking an eye doctor about. source: LENZ Therapeutics. (2025, July 31). LENZ Therapeutics announces U.S. FDA approval of VIZZ (aceclidine ophthalmic solution) 1.44% for the treatment of presbyopia [Press release].