What is accommodation?

Accommodation is the process where the lens becomes rounder in order to focus nearby objects onto the retina. This is how you are able to read without putting on glasses.

Here’s how it works: nearby objects tend to focus behind the retina:

However, the lens is a flexible structure, and has the ability to become “rounder” with contraction of the surrounding ciliary body (with the following relaxation of the suspensory zonules).

With a rounder, more powerful lens, the image focuses on the retina like it’s supposed to.

As we get older, the lens becomes stiffer and our accomadative capacity diminishes. This process is called presbyopia.