Final answer:
The condition where the lenses inside the eyes are clouded over is called cataracts. To treat this, an intraocular lens can replace the clouded lens to provide clear distant vision, but may not correct presbyopia, which often requires reading glasses.
Step-by-step explanation:
The condition in which the lenses inside the eyes become clouded over, causing difficulty in seeing, is known as cataracts. Cataracts are responsible for 50% of all cases of blindness and result from the clouding of the lens inside the eye that allows light to enter.
To restore vision, an intraocular lens can be used to replace the cataract-clouded lens. Although an intraocular lens can be installed to provide perfect distant vision for an individual, reading without glasses may not be possible if the person has presbyopia, a common vision problem associated with aging where the eye loses its ability to focus on close objects.
This is because intraocular lenses are typically optimized for distance vision, not close vision. If a person is nearsighted, the power of the intraocular lens would be less than the power of the removed lens because nearsightedness is corrected with a lens that has less focusing power.