Does presbyopia ever develop years after cataract surgery?

No. Presbyopia is a problem with near vision caused by the age-related hardening of the natural lens of the eye such that the surrounding muscle can no longer easily squeeze it into a different shape for focusing up close.

When this hardening gets more advanced, the lens also begins to discolor and cloud up. A cataract is the natural lens of the eye when it gets this way over time. So when you have a cataract operation, you are having your natural lens removed and replaced by an artificial soft plastic lens implant. The new, artificial lens implant will not cloud up over time.

In a certain sense, presbyopia is the first sign of cataract!

J.Trevor Woodhams,M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Woodhams Eye Clinic